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26th out of 354 books
—
275 voters
From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present
Highly regarded here and abroad for some thirty works of cultural history and criticism, master historian Jacques Barzun has now set down in one continuous narrative the sum of his discoveries and conclusions about the whole of Western culture since 1500.
In this account, Barzun describes what Western Man wrought from the Renaisance and Reformation down to the present in th...more
In this account, Barzun describes what Western Man wrought from the Renaisance and Reformation down to the present in th...more
Paperback, 912 pages
Published
May 15th 2001
by Harper Perennial
(first published 2000)
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Brief synopsis: A book for the stalwart who love learning and intellectual gymnastics. A brain workout.
I have to agree with Elizabeth S who reviewed as follows:
A very deep read. One of those that, to really enjoy, takes more time than just the reading time. It isn't a book to read, it is a book to experience. A book that, when you are done, you feel you know less than you thought you knew when you started. Overall, absolutely amazing.
Jacques Barzun is extremely well respected and won the Nation...more
This a book for the person who thinks that they will not live long enough to learn everything they want to learn. It is huge. It is marvelous. If one looks at the bibliography, it is stunning that any one person could have accessed all this knowledge. This book is 500 hundred year of Western culture, everything from politics, to cookbooks. It took me from October to May to read this book ( of course I put it down for periods or time to read a fast mystery or thriller for a break) but I felt like...more
Aug 10, 2011
Paula
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Those interested in the History of Ideas
Recommended to Paula by:
Amazon.com
Shelves:
back-burner-books
Not the kind of book that you can't put down. I use this as my exercycle reading. That way I digest a little each day. This is not only a book about history, but a book about ideas. Barzun traces the intellectual history of Western Civilization since its "Dawn" with the birth of the printing press and consequent proliferation of ideas. I never pick it up without feeling that I've found insight into why things have played out the way they have, or at least confirmation of something I've suspected...more
I came across Jacques Barzun in the late nineties as his book, From Dawn to Decadence - 1500 to the Present - 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, began to gain traction. I was still bogged down in an engineering career then, had divorced my first wife and 2.4 kids, and was in the early stages of re-marriage, but I felt compelled by the idea of this book and began to read it in what spare time I could summon.
What a book! And what a mind. Barzun was in his mid-nineties then, an age in which you -...more
What a book! And what a mind. Barzun was in his mid-nineties then, an age in which you -...more
Jun 17, 2012
Diann Blakely
added it
Many of us make New Year's resolutions concerning books. We think we should read more, and we know we should nourish our minds and hearts with work more substantive than the latest legal thriller or one-trick pop-psychology guidebook. But a month or two after Jan. 1, many of us are faced with a stack of books we resolved to read but haven't yet begun. What's the point of starting a volume as literally and metaphorically weighty as GREEK THOUGHT: A GUIDE TO CLASSICAL KNOWLEDGE when the idea of fi...more
This is a wonderful book that could be written only by someone like Barzun and only near the end of a deeply distinguished career that spanned several decades.
The scope of the book is breath-taking. And the learning necessary to write it is mind-boggling. The book is exactly what the sub-title suggests: a delightfully erudite discussion of 500 years of western cultural life.
In particular, I love Barzun's definition of decadence: a state of affairs where futility and absurdity are accepted as n...more
The scope of the book is breath-taking. And the learning necessary to write it is mind-boggling. The book is exactly what the sub-title suggests: a delightfully erudite discussion of 500 years of western cultural life.
In particular, I love Barzun's definition of decadence: a state of affairs where futility and absurdity are accepted as n...more
As everyone who’s attempted to read this book knows, it’s huge, it’s vast, it’s panoramic. It is a Great Book and is worth tackling.
That said, while I was particularly impressed with the first 3/4 , I couldn’t help but feel that Barzun was more than a bit dismissive of the modern age and looked down his nose at the current day. So, while I thought his treatment of the enlightenment and the reformation were revealing, I did however, find his critique of the 20th century a bit halting.
Also, and...more
That said, while I was particularly impressed with the first 3/4 , I couldn’t help but feel that Barzun was more than a bit dismissive of the modern age and looked down his nose at the current day. So, while I thought his treatment of the enlightenment and the reformation were revealing, I did however, find his critique of the 20th century a bit halting.
Also, and...more
Barzun’s swan-song, which consists of 800+ pages of historical information, interesting quotes, anecdotes, insights, and reflections, is the literary equivalent of sitting at the feet of a great master and venerable elder. The wide swath of knowledge encompassed in this book, including such varied aspects of Western culture as ballet, opera, Dadaism, mystery crime novels, and hippies, and the balanced bird’s eye view and authoritative approach taken to each is indicative of the long life (now ov...more
Jun 14, 2012
Andrew
added it
06-10-2012 - Have not started the book. Came as a recommendation from a noted Classics scholar at Hillsdale College, Tracy Lee Simmons.
Barzun is one of the most prominent philosophers and writers on Western Civilization in our time. This book represents his final work which has received noted acclaim.
Update 06-14-12 - I started this book because I thought I might have a burgeoning interest in cultural history.
After I read the first 100 pages, I can honestly say that I probably don't. At least,...more
Barzun is one of the most prominent philosophers and writers on Western Civilization in our time. This book represents his final work which has received noted acclaim.
Update 06-14-12 - I started this book because I thought I might have a burgeoning interest in cultural history.
After I read the first 100 pages, I can honestly say that I probably don't. At least,...more
No library, however big or small, should be considered complete without this book. It is NOT a work of scholarship; it is, rather, the Cliff Notes of Western Civilization, presented in, strangely enough, a personable, narrative style. Every page is full of something interesting, surprising, humorous and thought-provoking--but it's not a collection of trivial facts. Rather, it's a story of the Western World's failures and accomplishments, in all their shame and glory, laid out in a sensible and u...more
Mar 08, 2012
Dulguun
added it
ёоооё, энэ ном ч бузрын зузаан бузрын зузаан ер нь бузрын зузаан ном билээ. Ямар ч номыг энэ шиг урт удаан хугацаа зарцуулж уншиж байгаагүй юм байна лээ.
За тэр яахав, барууны 500-н жилийн түүхийг ганц Барзун бичнэ ч гэж юу байхав гэхдээ Барзуны нүдээр 500-н жилийн хугацаанд баруунп юу болж байсан, яагаад одоо өмнөхөөсөө дээрдэх биш дордож байгааг харьцуулан бичиж, нилээн дэлгэрэнгүй тайлбарласан ном. Бараг сар гаруй уншсан санагджийна даа.
За тэр яахав, барууны 500-н жилийн түүхийг ганц Барзун бичнэ ч гэж юу байхав гэхдээ Барзуны нүдээр 500-н жилийн хугацаанд баруунп юу болж байсан, яагаад одоо өмнөхөөсөө дээрдэх биш дордож байгааг харьцуулан бичиж, нилээн дэлгэрэнгүй тайлбарласан ном. Бараг сар гаруй уншсан санагджийна даа.
On the whole this is extremely informative, and useful if you need to clarify how the major cultural movements of the past 500 years fit together into a historical sequence. But beyond, that, I suspect you'd be better off reading three or four shorter books that cover a given period in more detail. This is inevitably pretty superficial, all range and little real depth.
Barzun is at his best when covering the century from about 1750-1850 - which he evidently also sees as the apogee of western cul...more
Barzun is at his best when covering the century from about 1750-1850 - which he evidently also sees as the apogee of western cul...more
Whew
Well this certainly took a while.
Barzun takes on the challenge of trying to articulate over 500 years of Western Culture and meets with success in parts and clearly struggles to incorporate the disparities and splintering that increases as he approaches current time. Fairly understandable given that as the forces that evoked changes became more individualized the clashes and changes would inevitably become difficult to put into a cohesive order. Perhaps that it part of the story too. In a cl...more
Well this certainly took a while.
Barzun takes on the challenge of trying to articulate over 500 years of Western Culture and meets with success in parts and clearly struggles to incorporate the disparities and splintering that increases as he approaches current time. Fairly understandable given that as the forces that evoked changes became more individualized the clashes and changes would inevitably become difficult to put into a cohesive order. Perhaps that it part of the story too. In a cl...more
Fantastic. 500 year overview of Western culture and history in just over 800 pages by a man with a wide and deep understanding of his subject. If you could read just one book on "Western Civilization", this would be it, but it's not a book for beginners. For instance, due to my weak knowledge of the arts and music, it was a little rough both getting through and understanding his review and critiques of those areas. Warning: If you judge people, history, art, politics and literature based upon yo...more
May 02, 2013
Rob Springer
marked it as to-read
I listened to an abridged version of this, Barzun's magnum opus. The gist is that we are at the end of one of history's great punctuation points. The era that began in the Renaissance ended in the 20th century with the advent of Post-Modernism.
I see this in everything from the lack of anything new in fashion, music, or art, to the fear that grips so many people, driving them to hold on to the past. The later is true for Biblical literalists who want to live in the 19th century, jihadists who wa...more
I see this in everything from the lack of anything new in fashion, music, or art, to the fear that grips so many people, driving them to hold on to the past. The later is true for Biblical literalists who want to live in the 19th century, jihadists who wa...more
It's not often that one is sorry to finish a nearly 800-page book, or that the process of wending one's way through those 800 pages is so consistently engaging, enjoyable and even exciting. Being so thoroughly a product of this decadent era, I have to make an ironic comment: part of the reason this romp through 500 years of history was so enjoyable -- for me and I suspect for many of those who put it on the NYT bestseller list -- is because of a level of culture and education that renders only a...more
Details Western culture from the Renaissance to the present. The author follows a number of themes, including individualism, emancipation, primitivism, analysis, and abstraction, that he claims have shaped the past 500 years. He makes a persuasive case for the unity of this period. He argues that although Western culture is currently somewhat decadent, it is likely to enter a new phase of creativity soon to restart the cycle. He doesn't, however, address whether the characteristics mentioned abo...more
500 years in 800 pages. That's obviously a difficult task. Barzun is perhaps one of the most widely read authors I've ever read. He's written scholarly books in many different areas of study including art, history, journalism, and more. I was hoping for a different kind of book. This is essentially a history of movements in the past 500 years--emphasizing the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, Industrialism, and our modern era. It is interesting how he highlights some things and ba...more
This work provides a panoramic and magisterial view on the culture of Western Civilization from 1500-2000. I found it difficult to lay down the first time I read it. I still often dip into sections or themes within it. A very useful overview of the cultural history of the modern and early-modern eras in western thought and cultural activity. Dawn to Decadence increased my appreciation in the accomplishments of Western Civilization and Culture, while renewing my faith in the possibilities such an...more
The best book I have ever read in this year and for the last 20 years (i.e. my whole life up to this point).
This is a masterpiece. It has done so much to me, intellectually, artistically, and emotionally, that it deserves such a title.
From Dawn to Decadence covers a 500 year period from roughly the Renaissance - the so-called reborn of the Western Civilization - until the end of 20th century, which Barzun considers as its very Decadence. I have never read a history book in which everything weav...more
This is a masterpiece. It has done so much to me, intellectually, artistically, and emotionally, that it deserves such a title.
From Dawn to Decadence covers a 500 year period from roughly the Renaissance - the so-called reborn of the Western Civilization - until the end of 20th century, which Barzun considers as its very Decadence. I have never read a history book in which everything weav...more
This Book Is 11,856 Pages Long
After having read Jacques Barzun's suma thirteen times, I have concluded that this book is not really 912 pages long as it appears in the product details, but rather 11,856 pages. Every time I read this masterpiece, I find new ideas and fresh material on every page. Seemingly, the book is an endless fount of intellect, culture, etiquette, morals, art, science, politics, and genius that serves as the capstone of the last era and the cornerstone for the next.
The first...more
After having read Jacques Barzun's suma thirteen times, I have concluded that this book is not really 912 pages long as it appears in the product details, but rather 11,856 pages. Every time I read this masterpiece, I find new ideas and fresh material on every page. Seemingly, the book is an endless fount of intellect, culture, etiquette, morals, art, science, politics, and genius that serves as the capstone of the last era and the cornerstone for the next.
The first...more
Feb 28, 2010
Stephen Hayes
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone interested in the history of modernity
I saw this book going cheap in a bookshop that sold remainders -- unsold copies of books returned to the publishers. I knew Jacques Barzun as one of the authoers of The Modern Researcher, which I had helpful in writing my doctoral thesis. So I bought it, and I'm glad I did.
It's a kind of history and tourist's guide to modernity. It's taken me a long time to read it, because it's a long book. I read other stuff in the mean time, and when I was halfway through I forgot about it for a while. I was...more
It's a kind of history and tourist's guide to modernity. It's taken me a long time to read it, because it's a long book. I read other stuff in the mean time, and when I was halfway through I forgot about it for a while. I was...more
Perhaps the single most amazing thing about this tome - an absolutely brilliant compendium of wisdom, erudition, commentary, and insight, written with a detached passion that illuminates the topics and breathes life into its actors - is that Barzun assembled most of this five-star gem whilst in his early nineties! That the cobwebs of senescence have never been allowed to gather in this transplanted Frenchman's mind becomes abundantly clear as one works their way through this absolute exemplarity...more
What a journey. My brother sent me the book a few months ago--June, I think b/c it was shortly after his birthday.
500 years of the world's dominant culture, the culture that brought you the notion of culture.
Barzun's style, after you are accustomed to it enough to read it at all, is flowing but pithy; that makes for what I call a dense read. My tramp through this book's 800 or so pages of story excluding the 100 pages of end materials, was conducted on bus and toilet seats, a paragraph here and...more
500 years of the world's dominant culture, the culture that brought you the notion of culture.
Barzun's style, after you are accustomed to it enough to read it at all, is flowing but pithy; that makes for what I call a dense read. My tramp through this book's 800 or so pages of story excluding the 100 pages of end materials, was conducted on bus and toilet seats, a paragraph here and...more
Aug 03, 2008
Michael
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone with a pretense to cultural literacy
Recommended to Michael by:
Justin Zeppa (wise boy!)
Frankly, having read this work, I'm a bit embarassed to be writing a review. In as much as the whole narrative leads one to an inescapable feeling of living in a totally fragmented, de-contextualized, and (to use the author's word) decadent, society; it seems rather self-indulgent to commit these words to the infinite void of cyberspace, where, as far as I will ever know, no one will read them, respond to them, or act upon them.
Having said that, however, here are my thoughts:
Barzun has done...more
Having said that, however, here are my thoughts:
Barzun has done...more
For those too young to have been subjected to H.G. Wells, Toynbee, the Durants -- who else am I missing? -- this book may come as an aid to forming some framework by which to understand the past and present and perhaps predict the future. While not quite Marx or Nostradamus, Barzun and his academic assistants really try to rev their mental engines on this one. They look at what they know and rethink it in terms of all they have learned since they first learned the first things; they revise views...more
Colossal integration of art, culture, politics and thought over the last half millenium.
Update: I just finished the book. What a magnificent work. I will just add two notes.
1. From the prologue, for those who may be interested in Barzun's framework: "All that is meant by Decadence is 'falling off.' It implies in those who live in such a time no loss of energy or talent or moral sense. On the contrary, it is a very active time, full of deep concerns, but peculiarly restless, for it sees no clear...more
Update: I just finished the book. What a magnificent work. I will just add two notes.
1. From the prologue, for those who may be interested in Barzun's framework: "All that is meant by Decadence is 'falling off.' It implies in those who live in such a time no loss of energy or talent or moral sense. On the contrary, it is a very active time, full of deep concerns, but peculiarly restless, for it sees no clear...more
I would give it a 5, it is so excellent, but I did have some trouble understanding his rather difficult prose at times. This is a book you really need to read a couple of times before it would all come together, but it is just such a monumental life's work. It is stunning to consider that this book was finished when the author was in his nineties. I now feel like a know a thing or two about the history of Western Civilization.
An 800-page tour throughout the cultural history of the West since the Reformation might sound like rough going, but Barzun is a really good writer with a conversational tone, and he knows so much about this stuff. He pretty much invented the study of cultural history, and he's been thinking hard about it for a lifetime. As a reviewer said, it's like having a long dinner conversation with someone who is brilliant, articulate, witty, and at the same time down-to-earth. Hmm. More like a couple of...more
Staggering. This is Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, part deux. An intellectual history of western culture, written by a man in his 90s at the time, this is the most important book I have ever read, in terms of its impact on my understanding of the human condition in the West. It simply cannot be overrated. Also, as of today the author is still alive - one of the last renaissance men.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expanded Table of Contents for Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence | 3 | 23 | Jan 20, 2010 05:28pm | |
| The History Book ...: 19. FROM DAWN... October 5 ~ October 11- Part Four - Chapter XXVII and XXVIII (763 - 802) Non-Spoiler | 1 | 12 | Oct 04, 2009 06:57pm | |
| The History Book ...: 5. FROM DAWN... June 29 ~ July 5 ~~ Part One - Chapter VIII (169-190) Non-Spoiler | 29 | 19 | Oct 02, 2009 03:25pm | |
| The History Book ...: 18. FROM DAWN... September 28 ~ October 4- Part Four - Chapter XXVI and XXVII (713 - 763) Non-Spoiler | 2 | 8 | Sep 29, 2009 11:57pm | |
| The History Book ...: 15th Century (Jacque Barzun's Analysis) | 7 | 19 | Sep 26, 2009 08:34pm | |
| The History Book ...: 16th Century (Jacque Barzun's Analysis) | 8 | 13 | Sep 26, 2009 08:26pm | |
| The History Book ...: 20th Century (Jacque Barzun's Analysis) | 9 | 17 | Sep 26, 2009 08:19pm |
Jacques Martin Barzun was a French-born American historian of ideas and culture.
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“Let us face a pluralistic world in which there are no universal churches, no single remedy for all diseases, no one way to teach or write or sing, no magic diet, no world poets, and no chosen races, but only the wretched and wonderfully diversified human race.”
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updated Jan 20, 2010 10:39am
Apr 20, 2013 07:07am