The Right Side of History

What built the most prosperous, free, and moral civilization in human history—and why does it now seem to be crumbling? In The Right Side of History, Ben Shapiro argues that the answer lies in our forgotten intellectual and spiritual roots. He contends that the modern West was built on two pillars—Jerusalem and Athens. The first, born from the Judeo-Christian tradition, gave us divine meaning: the belief that every human being is created in the image of God and therefore possesses inherent worth and moral purpose. The second, originating with the Greeks, gave us reason and logic: the conviction that truth can be discovered through rational inquiry into the nature of the world. Together, these forces created the moral and scientific framework that made liberty and progress possible.

Yet, Shapiro warns, we are now dismantling those very foundations. Many in the modern West dismiss religion as superstition and reason as oppressive, replacing them with relativism, tribalism, and emotionalism. The result, he says, is a cultural and moral fragmentation that imperils not just political stability but human happiness itself. We are materially richer than ever before, but spiritually impoverished and ideologically exhausted.

The Problem of Modern Unhappiness

Shapiro begins with a paradox: by virtually every measurable standard, our lives are better than those of any previous generation—longer lifespans, advanced technology, abundant food, personal freedom. Yet depression, alienation, suicide, and social distrust are all on the rise. Why? His answer is that we’ve confused material comfort with meaning, and political freedom with moral purpose. We now pursue endless pleasure, self-expression, and political victory instead of cultivating the virtues that make happiness possible.

For Shapiro, happiness isn’t mere pleasure; it’s the sustained joy that comes from living according to moral purpose. Drawing on both the Hebrew Bible and Aristotle, he shows how ancient conceptions of happiness—simcha in Hebrew, eudaimonia in Greek—are rooted not in indulgence, but in acting rightly and fulfilling human potential. You can’t enjoy enduring happiness, he insists, without a framework that tells you what “right” and “good” mean. And that framework can only come from acknowledging objective moral truth, grounded in divine purpose and accessible through reason.

Jerusalem and Athens: The Marriage of Meaning and Reason

The first half of the book explores how these two traditions—Jerusalem and Athens—merged to form the moral DNA of the West. Judaism introduced the revolutionary idea that God is one, moral, and cares deeply about human choice. Every person, not just kings or priests, bears God’s image and thus possesses moral responsibility and intrinsic worth. Egypt and Babylon had believed that fate ruled men; the Bible taught that human beings could change history by aligning with divine law.

Meanwhile, Greek philosophy contributed the belief that the world operates according to rational laws, discoverable through human intellect. Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics pursued truth through reason, developing philosophy, natural law, and the early scientific method. Where the Bible brought purpose, Athens added inquiry— and together they built a civilization that valued both moral action and scientific understanding. This combination, Shapiro says, uniquely enabled human beings to pursue both virtue and progress.

How We Lost Our Way

But beginning with the Enlightenment and accelerating through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, many Western thinkers sought to separate reason from faith. In doing so, they cut down the tree while still trying to harvest its fruit. From Machiavelli to Marx to Nietzsche, secular philosophers replaced divine purpose and moral truth with materialism, utilitarianism, and will to power. Each promised liberation but delivered chaos: the French Revolution’s terror, communism’s slavery, fascism’s nationalism, and today’s moral relativism.

In modern society, Shapiro argues, we’ve substituted the pursuit of meaning for politics and self-gratification. The decline of shared moral values has left individuals rootless and societies fractured. Instead of families and faith communities, people look to the state to manufacture happiness. Instead of reasoned debate, we turn to emotional outrage. And as we abandon the Judeo-Christian moral framework, we see the reemergence of ancient pagan tendencies—tribalism, hedonism, and the worship of self.

“We are not unhappy because we have nothing; we are unhappy because we have lost why.”

This captures Shapiro’s warning: comfort without purpose leads to despair. Prosperity without virtue erodes freedom. The moral architecture of the West—built on divine dignity and rational truth—is not automatically self-sustaining. It must be reaffirmed and taught to each generation.

Why It Matters for You

Shapiro’s argument is not merely historical. He’s urging you to see that reclaiming a meaningful life—personally and civilizationally—requires reconnecting with both belief and reason. You can’t navigate modern life by data alone or by feelings alone; you need a moral compass and intellectual clarity. Whether you’re trying to raise your children, build a business, or simply make sense of a confusing world, your freedom and happiness depend on recognizing objective truths about human purpose and moral responsibility.

In the chapters that follow, Shapiro traces how faith and reason built Western civilization, how rejecting them led to devastating ideologies, and how we might restore balance today. If the fusion of Jerusalem’s moral law and Athens’s rational inquiry created the West, then our future depends on reviving that synthesis before it’s too late.

When Ben Shapiro asks “Are you happy?” he uses the question to probe a deeper issue: what does happiness actually mean? In a culture obsessed with pleasure and comfort, he argues that we’ve forgotten that happiness is not feeling good but being good. This insight anchors his entire moral and political vision. The pursuit of happiness, as the American Founders intended it, was never the pursuit of pleasure—it was the pursuit of virtue guided by moral purpose.

The Four Building Blocks of True Happiness

Shapiro identifies four interlocking elements that make authentic happiness possible:

• Individual moral purpose—Each person must understand life as inherently meaningful, grounded in moral law. Without belief in right and wrong, life becomes a pursuit of empty amusement.
• Individual capacity—You must believe that your choices matter, that your reason and will give you agency to pursue the good.
• Communal moral purpose—Society requires shared values; virtue isn’t cultivated in isolation.
• Communal capacity—Strong families, faith institutions, and limited government create the environment where virtue and freedom can flourish together.

All four, he says, spring from two civilizational sources: Jerusalem, which provides divine moral purpose, and Athens, which provides rational capacity. Happiness, therefore, is the harmony of moral meaning and rational action—an insight as old as Aristotle and as relevant as modern psychology (Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning reaches the same conclusion).

Biblical Joy and Greek Eudaimonia

The Bible calls happiness simcha, a joy that arises from following God’s will. As Ecclesiastes teaches, worldly pleasures are vanity; only serving God “joyfully and gladly” brings fulfillment. Greek philosophy, especially Aristotle’s concept of eudaimonia, independently reached a similar conclusion—true happiness is living virtuously according to reason. Both traditions agree: moral action aligned with truth brings lasting joy.

This moral happiness, unlike fleeting pleasure, can endure even through suffering. Shapiro cites psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, who argued that even in Auschwitz, those who retained purpose survived longest. Studies confirm that people with a strong sense of meaning live longer, healthier lives. In short, happiness is less about what happens to you and more about what you live for.

Why Politics Can’t Make You Happy

Modern society often seeks political salvation—hoping new leaders or laws will deliver personal happiness. But Shapiro reminds us that Jefferson’s famous phrase “the pursuit of happiness” never promised government-supplied bliss. Government’s role is to safeguard our right to pursue moral ends, not to manufacture purpose. When we look to politics to fill spiritual emptiness, we become bitter and angry, turning opponents into enemies. Neither Barack Obama’s promise to “fix our souls” nor Donald Trump’s vow to “give you everything” can fulfill what only virtue can.

The Modern Confusion of Means and Ends

We’ve inverted the order of things, Shapiro says. Comfort, wealth, and freedom were meant to serve the pursuit of goodness, not substitute for it. The more we treat material pleasures as the goal rather than the tools for moral growth, the emptier we become. Pleasure without purpose is like motion without direction. It feels like freedom but leads to despair.

“Happiness isn’t rolling around in the mud at Woodstock,” Shapiro quips, “nor is it a nice golf game after a rough week.” It’s living with moral purpose, even when it costs you something.

For you, this means real happiness demands cultivating virtue every day—through family, honest work, and faith in something higher. When you align your actions with timeless moral truths rather than shifting feelings, you find the peace Aristotle called “a life well lived” and Scripture calls “rejoicing in your work.” That, Shapiro concludes, is the right side of history.