This book is a story of the unfolding triumph of Christian happiness as a philosophy of life -- from its ancient Greek roots and principles in "the master of those who know," Aristotle, through its medieval flourishing in the sparkling syntheses of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, to the application of the Dominican saint's penetrating vision to leisure and worship by a prominent twentieth century Thomist pilgrim, Josef Pieper. John Paul II's encyclicals continue the threads in this little tapestry of reason redeemed, offered for today's Christian in the heart of the world.