and the pursuit of happiness. Interactive House Designs

and the pursuit of happiness.

November 4, 2010 – 2:37 am

maira kalman is one of my absolute heroes. i adore the way she looks so optimistically at the world. on the day of the obama inauguration, she began a year-long journey, crisscrossing the united states of america — from the supreme court to the lincoln memorial and all the way to the white house, with a stop for pie thrown in for good measure (what is americana, after all, without pie?).

in her new book and in the pursuit of happiness, artist and writer maira kalman beautifully illustrates her travels and her pursuit of unique truths and humanity across the country. along the way, she puts her magical, almost childlike and charming spin on our history and in doing so, restores my faith in democracy.

and in the pursuit of happiness is a loose history of america, based on maira’s personal feelings and unique observations, brimming with interesting and endearing information we may not read in traditionally dry history books, including maira’s mad crush on abraham lincoln, and the little known fact that benjamin franklin invented swim fins. true story.

based on her beloved blog in the New York Times, the book is quirky and touching, whimsically illustrated and written in maira’s signature hand-lettered text. you should go find and in the pursuit of happiness here on amazon. i think you will, indeed, find great happiness.