17 Books That Will Change How You Think About Happiness—and Loss

In a quest to explain happiness and loss as she wrote Bittersweet, Susan Cain explored the classics, as well as the contemporary writers, who each bring a nuance to this vast topic. From the unfulfilled family in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman to the transcendence from longing into creativity in The Bridges of Madison County, these writers show what is possible and what can constrain.

That includes a work by Charles Darwin, who is known primarily for his work as a biologist and naturalist. Darwin lost his 10-year-old daughter to an illness—and that tragedy shaped his view on compassion and the interrelatedness of nature and man. Each book mentioned in Bittersweet arrives at the same conclusion in different ways: We are connected, and our lives impact others, consciously or unconsciously. Below, we’re sharing the 17 books that will change how you think about happiness and loss as referenced in Bittersweet, along with Cain’s nuggets from the listed works.