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From Dawn to Decadence: 1500 to the Present:…
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From Dawn to Decadence: 1500 to the Present: 500 Years of Western Cultural… (2000)

by Jacques Barzun

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2,276262,537 (4.11)40
  1. 10
    Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond (MusicMom41)
    MusicMom41: Guns, Germs and Steel makes a great “prelude’ to Barzun’s book From Dawn to Decadence.
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940.2
  offblack | May 9, 2013 |
I believe this to be a highly intellectual excercise. I am impressed by the scope of knowledge of this scholar. A challenging read. ( )
  phillund | Jan 10, 2012 |
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 over 100 years) of a penetrating and curious mind.

Barzun’s style throughout the book is nearly conversational as he discusses the various topics, people, and ideas we encounter along the way. He takes us down side trails that connect seemingly disparate elements of culture, such as Bach and the rise of National Socialism or street gangs and Andy Warhol, bringing together facts that are normally compartmentalized, separated, and sorted, and giving us, throughout, his own knowledgeable assessment. And, in the end, he offers us his thoughts on the current state of Western Civilization, what we have become and what he believes will become of us.

For all of this, I think any attentive disciple (that is, reader) cannot help but whisper “thank you” as he closes the book, even after a second or third read of it, and to wish, hope, and pray, no matter the odds against, that Barzun could have another 100 years. ( )
1 vote davidpwithun | Sep 30, 2011 |
I took this out of my library as an audiobook and in retrospective, I think I would have enjoyed it much more as a printed book. There was too much to absorb in audio. Looking at the other ratings and reviews, this confirms my suspicions. It looks like many others got a lot out of it while I didn't enjoy it much or feel like I learned a whole lot. ( )
  sweetiegherkin | Oct 16, 2010 |
Nothing like this book could have been written without the full resources of one of the 20th century's most encyclopedic and articulate minds -- and even then, Barzun wasn't capable of producing this masterpiece until he was in his 90's.And it's taking me a very long time to read!... ( )
  BrianFrank | Apr 27, 2010 |
Showing 1-5 of 26 (next | show all)
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Epigraph
Mankind does nothing save through initiatives on the part of inventors, great or small, and imitation by the rest of us  Individuals show the way, set the patterns.  The rivalry of the patterns is the history of the world. - William James (1908)
Dedication
To All Whom It May Concern
First words
The Modern Era begins, characteristically, with a revolution.
Quotations
How a revolution erupts from a commonplace event - tidal wave from a ripple - is cause for endless astonishment. . . . ardent youths full of hope as they catch the drift of the idea, rowdies looking for fun, and characters with a grudge. Cranks and tolerated lunatics come out of houses, criminals out of hideouts, and all assert themselves.
The "findings" [of scientism] have inspired policies affecting daily life that were enforced with the same absolute assurance as earlier ones based on religion.
This opposition to freedom of thought must, according to that very thought, be tolerated, thus creating a general lack of direction that a dictator will supply.
Providence, like predestination, lifts the burden of responsibility from the individual, as does their equivalent today: scientific and psychological determinism eliminates responsibility for bahavior, crime included.
What the journalists of every type see as their proper task is to form, with the help of rumor and current prejudice, what is called public opinion.
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Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0060928832, Paperback)

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

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 17 Sep 2010 17:53:25 -0400)

(see all 5 descriptions)

Taken from "Dawn to Decadence", his landmark study of the past five centuries, Barzun's enthralling analysis of the twentieth century rates the present not as a culmination of western civilization, but as a decline.

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