A Brief History of Happiness: How America Lost Track of the Good Life—and Where to Find It Now

[Bluenorthwest]

6. I like what it is trying to say, really dislike the 'things were better 100 years ago' meme.

To claim that society used to be all fair and vibrant and then adverting and policy wonks changed all that is a claim that requires one to address the racism, sexism and homophobia that in reality defined that long ago utopia where the author thought all was fair and vibrant. Gay people in hiding or in jail or in mental wards, 100 years ago was 1915, 65 confirmed lynchings of African Americans, not to mention Leo Frank.
January 12, 1915 Congress rejected giving women the right to vote but apparently did so in a vibrant and fair way.
Typhoid Mary, 'Birth of a Nation'.
Internationally, poison gas in Europe, locusts in Palestine, deportation of Armenians from Istanbul, Mexican Revolution, American occupation of Haiti.

It was so vibrant and so very very fair until those ads and wonks got involved.