Life and career

1964 · Born in Spokane. Born in Spokane, Washington in 1964. The family moved to Seattle when he was very young. He began the French horn at nine. He hoped to be one of the best players in the world. (Wikipedia: Arthur C. Brooks · Harvard Magazine: The Happiness Revolutionary (6 December 2022))
1983 · Leaving music school. He studied at the California Institute of the Arts. At 19 he was offered a transfer to the Curtis Institute of Music and walked away from it. He toured with the Annapolis Brass Quintet from 1983 to 1989. (Wikipedia: Arthur C. Brooks · Harvard Magazine: The Happiness Revolutionary (6 December 2022) · Harvard Kennedy School: Arthur C. Brooks curriculum vitae)
1989 · Barcelona. He became associate principal horn of the City Orchestra of Barcelona. He had met the trumpeter Ester Munt at a music festival. He moved to Barcelona to marry her. He left the orchestra in 1992 and taught horn in Florida until 1995. (Harvard Kennedy School: Arthur C. Brooks curriculum vitae · Harvard Magazine: The Happiness Revolutionary (6 December 2022))
1994 · A degree by post. Just before turning 30 he finished a degree in economics by distance learning from Thomas Edison State. He took a master’s in economics from Florida Atlantic University the same year. (Harvard Magazine: The Happiness Revolutionary (6 December 2022) · Vanderbilt University: Arthur Brooks, Medicine, Health, and Society)
1998 · RAND and teaching. He earned a PhD in public policy analysis at the RAND Graduate School. At RAND he ran military simulations for Project Air Force. He taught at Georgia State and then at Syracuse from 2001. He became a full professor there in 2006. (Wikipedia: Arthur C. Brooks · Harvard Kennedy School: Arthur C. Brooks curriculum vitae)
2009 · President of AEI. In January 2009 he took charge of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. NBC News reported that donor revenue doubled from $20 million to $40 million. He steered research towards poverty, loneliness and addiction. (Harvard Kennedy School: Arthur C. Brooks curriculum vitae · NBC News: Meet Arthur Brooks, the Republican Party’s poverty guru · Harvard Magazine: The Happiness Revolutionary (6 December 2022))
2013 · Dharamsala. Early in 2013 he and two colleagues visited the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala. He joined a morning meditation with the monks. NBC News also reported a visit to Dharavi in Mumbai during his AEI years. (The New York Times via Business Standard: Capitalism and the Dalai Lama (19 April 2014) · NBC News: Meet Arthur Brooks, the Republican Party’s poverty guru)
2014 · The Dalai Lama at AEI. In February the Dalai Lama spoke at a two-day AEI summit on moral free enterprise. In June Brooks hosted Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at AEI to discuss human flourishing. He wrote for The New York Times as a contributing opinion writer from 2014 to 2018. (The New York Times via Business Standard: Capitalism and the Dalai Lama (19 April 2014) · The Daily Beast: DC’s top neocon finds his inner hippie (27 June 2014) · Harvard Kennedy School: Arthur C. Brooks curriculum vitae)
2018 · A teacher in Palakkad. He travelled to Palakkad in Kerala to meet the teacher Sri Nochur Venkataraman. His disciples call him Acharya. The meeting shaped his writing on the Hindu stages of life. In the same year he announced he would step down from AEI. (The Atlantic: Your Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think (July 2019) · Harvard Magazine: The Happiness Revolutionary (6 December 2022) · Wikipedia: Arthur C. Brooks)
2019 · Love Your Enemies and Harvard. Love Your Enemies came out in March. He left AEI in June and joined Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School. His July Atlantic essay on professional decline drew wide attention. (Harvard Kennedy School: Arthur C. Brooks curriculum vitae · Wikipedia: Arthur C. Brooks · Harvard Kennedy School: listing of the July 2019 Atlantic essay)
2020 · The Prayer Breakfast and a column. In February he gave the keynote at the National Prayer Breakfast on contempt in public life. Donald Trump said he was not sure he agreed. In April The Atlantic launched his weekly column How to Build a Life. (Catholic World Report: Trump at the National Prayer Breakfast (6 February 2020) · Washingtonian: The Washingtonian interview with Arthur Brooks (10 November 2020) · Harvard Kennedy School: Arthur C. Brooks curriculum vitae)
2022 · From Strength to Strength. His book on the second half of life debuted at number one on the New York Times list. In November he spoke by video to the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on ageing and the ashramas. (Wikipedia: Arthur C. Brooks · Hindustan Times: ‘Sharing your wisdom is key to happiness’ (11 November 2022))
2023 · Build the Life You Want. Oprah Winfrey called him after reading his column. Their joint book came out in September and debuted at number one. In March he spoke at an HBS India event. (The Boston Globe: Arthur Brooks teams up with Oprah (7 January 2024) · Wikipedia: Arthur C. Brooks · Harvard Kennedy School: Arthur C. Brooks curriculum vitae)
2024 · A Harvard delegation in Dharamsala. In April he led 38 people from his Leadership and Happiness Laboratory to the Dalai Lama’s residence. It was his eleventh visit. The talks were on transcendence. (The Harvard Crimson: HKS group meets the Dalai Lama (17 April 2024))
2026 · The Free Press, a new book and Vanderbilt. In January he began a weekly column for The Free Press. The Meaning of Your Life came out on 31 March and reached number one. On 1 July he joined Vanderbilt University. The Happiness Files had appeared in August 2025. (The Free Press: Arthur Brooks, Happiness lessons from a miserable wretch (5 January 2026) · Penguin Random House: The Meaning of Your Life · Vanderbilt University: Arthur C. Brooks to join faculty at Vanderbilt (23 April 2026) · Harvard Kennedy School: The Happiness Files (12 August 2025))

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