The dominance of popular romance in the US fiction market suggests that its trends and themes may reflect the politics of a significant proportion of the US population. Pursuing Happiness explores some of the choices, beliefs and assumptions which shape the politics of US romance novels. In particular, it focuses on what romances reveal about American attitudes towards work, the West, race, gender, community cohesion, ancestral "roots" and a historical connection (or lack of it) to the land. ""Pursuing Happiness explores the ways that popular American romance novels engage such matters as US...