Peanuts, A Golden Celebration

The Art and the Story of the World's Best-Loved Comic Strip

by Charles M. Schulz

HarperCollins, 254 pp., $ 45

"I wish I could be happy," the boy says. "I think I could be happy if my life had more purpose to it. I also think that if I were happy, I could help others to be happy. Does that make sense to you?"

The little girl with him, who had seemed intently interested in his words, responds: "We had spaghetti at our house three times this month!"

Once again finding himself entirely alone in a world that cannot possibly comprehend him, the little boy utters his mantra of despair: "Good grief!"

The boy is, of course, Charlie Brown, engaged as usual in his desperate struggle to make sense...