In the last half-millennium, as the noted cultural critic and historian Jacques Barzun observes, great revolutions have swept the Western world. Each has brought profound change--for instance, the remaking of the commercial and social worlds wrought by the rise of Protestantism and by the decline of hereditary monarchies. And each, Barzun hints, is too little studied or appreciated today, in a time he does not hesitate to label as decadent. To leaf through Barzun's sweeping, densely detailed but lightly written survey of the last 500 years is to ride a whirlwind of world-changing events. Barzun ponders, for instance, the tumultuous political climate of Renaissance Italy, which yielded mayhem and chaos, but also the work of Michelangelo and Leonardo--and, he adds, the scientific foundations for today's consumer culture of boom boxes and rollerblades. He considers the 16th-century varieties of religious experimentation that arose in the wake of Martin Luther's 95 theses, some of which led to the repression of individual personality, others of which might easily have come from the "Me Decade." Along the way, he offers a miniature history of the detective novel, defends Surrealism from its detractors, and derides the rise of professional sports, packing in a wealth of learned and often barbed asides.
Never shy of controversy, Barzun writes from a generally conservative position; he insists on the importance of moral values, celebrates the historical contributions of Christopher Columbus, and twits the academic practitioners of political correctness. Whether accepting of those views or not, even the most casual reader will find much that is new or little-explored in this attractive venture into cultural history. --Gregory McNamee
From Library Journal
Nearly 100, the noted thinker contemplates the last half-millennium.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Others have written about the end of Western culture, but none with more cogent erudition than Barzun. With a poise borne of decades of distinguished scholarship, Barzun recounts the religious, political, artistic, and social revolutions that shaped Western culture. But far more than a chronicle of events, this magisterial history highlights the earliest emergence of seminal new ideas and impulses. Thus, though Barzun offers deft and often shrewd portrayals of such giants as Luther, Montesquieu, and Shaw, it is concepts--including individualism, emancipation, primitivism, and self-consciousness--that form the unifying threads running through the tapestry of the centuries. In scrutinizing the last few decades, Barzun sees the threads unraveling, and the weavers despairing. No new ideas inspire fresh or meaningful patterns. Signs of decadence abound. Absurdity pervades the arts. Empty slogans dominate politics. Violence replaces thought. Barzun expects and even invites disagreement. But he advances his views with an intellectual capaciousness that will win admiration even from those who reject his conclusions. An impressive culmination to a lifetime of serious reflection. Bryce Christensen
Review
"[Barzun] restores color to faded memories of history and paints in the mural here bits were missing." — Sebastian Mallaby, Washington Post Book World
“A stunning five-century study of civilization’s cultural retreat.” — William Safire, New York Times
“Barzun writes with unfailing, stylish lucidity and enlivens his vast tale with ingenious devices.” — The New Yorker
“From Dawn to Decadence, in short, is peerless.” — New York Times Book Review
“How many times in one’s life does one get to welcome a masterpiece, which, without a doubt, this amazing work certainly is?” — National Review
"Likely -- I am tempted to say certain -- to become a classic." — William H. McNeill, Los Angeles Times
“[From Dawn to Decadence] is arguably the best thinking man’s bedside book ever written.” — Peter Green, Times Literary Supplement
“Jacques Barzun’s summa is the work of a very great historian and of a seer. The phrase from the Bible is apposite: ‘The hearing ear, and the seeing eye’ is his great gift--and a gift to his readers.” — John Lukacs, author of Five Days in London
From the Back Cover
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 the double light of its own time and our pressing concerns. He introduces characters and incidents with his unusual literary style and grace, bringing to the fore those that have "Puritans as Democrats," "The Monarch's Revolution," "The Artist Prophet and Jester"--show the recurrent role of great themes throughout the eras.
The triumphs and defeats of five hundred years form an inspiring saga that modifies the current impression of one long tale of oppression by white European males. Women and their deeds are prominent, and freedom (even in sexual matters) is not an invention of the last decades. And when Barzun rates the present not as a culmination but a decline, he is in no way a prophet of doom. Instead, he shows decadence as the creative novelty that will burst forth--tomorrow or the next day.
Only after a lifetime of separate studies covering a broad territory could a writer create with such ease the synthesis displayed in this magnificent volume.
About the Author
Born in France in 1907, Jacques Barzun came to the United States in 1920. After graduating from Columbia College, he joined the faculty of the university, becoming Seth Low Professor of History and, for a decade, Dean of Faculties and Provost. The author of some thirty books, including the New York Times bestseller From Dawn to Decadence, he received the Gold Medal for Criticism from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, of which he was twice president. He lived in San Antonio, Texas, before passing away at age 104.
