For over forty years, Michael Klein’s work has been drawn to the autobiographical—the somber, life-changing watershed moments that define a life. His previous writing often navigated the territories of dread and reckoning. In this stunning new collection of essays, he turns his gaze to joy.

Happiness Ruined Everything is a devotional to the arts and the people who bring them to life. Through reflections on poetry, music, dance, theater, and the writers he has known and loved, Klein explores how joy can influence our thinking and reshape the prism through which we experience the world. “One of the strange joys of being in love with someone is how happiness ruined everything. No more courting the dark. I’ve always worn my own darkness and haven’t tried—I hope I haven’t tried—pretending that it doesn’t exist… I don’t believe that a piece of writing has to be sad, but it does—at least for me—have to insist on acknowledging a shadow. It has to face something that a good cop would call evidence.”