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Title: From Dawn to Decadence : 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present by Jacques Barzun ISBN: 0-06-092883-2 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 15 May, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.16 (125 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: history the way it should be
Comment: I liked this book very much. It was different from most other histories that I have read in two important respects:
(1) Because it is impossible to do justice to each person and period encountered in the 500 years discussed, Barzun suggests books along the way for those interested in pursuing the topic further.
(2) Rather than dismiss many of the ideas, beliefs, and actions from the past that may seem odd in our day, Barzun continually attempted to relate them to beliefs presently held. Examples are: 16th Calvinism/predestination and it's 20th century counterpart of determinism and sociobiology, or the church/government control over speech compared with today's politically correct language.
He gave me a new perspective on many individuals and movements which I thought I had a pretty good handle on but decided that I had bought into popular opinion rather than actual history. While providing just attention to the famous figures of the past, Barzun also introduced me to a host of new faces that have been unfairly neglected.
And as with many good historians, Barzun is wary of scientism and throughout the book he alludes to the inappropriate use of reductionism and analysis.
Rating: 4
Summary: Author's Running Commentary on 500 Yrs. culture
Comment: Noted author and historian thematically runs through 500 years of Western civilization. His sweep his broad and primarily deals specifically with the arts take and reaction to cultural shifts, looking in the macro sense at literature, art, drama, music, etc.
He has a penchant to focus on rather obscure historially speaking individuals whom the author feels typify the times and impacted them, e.g. Walter Bagehot of late nineteenth century times.
One of the few periods where I am well familiar, the Reformation, Barzun writes in a very biased and modernistic way, rather than paint the period disattached. For example, he incorrectly attributes "consubstantiation" to the Lutherans, and chides Luther for his views of inerrancy. These and other errors made this reader wary of his writing into history much of his modern viewpoint, rather than reporting what happened.
His organizational flow of ideas was helpful. His writing style is concise and vocabulary loaded (one will spend time in the dictionary with this one).
A work to reflect and check back on as one reads with specific periods.
Rating: 5
Summary: Superb look into Western history!
Comment: From Dawn to Decadence is what you should have learned with your liberal arts education. It is a brilliant, entertaining, thought-provoking history of the last 500 years in the West. At times I felt like putting the book down, bowing down and saying, "We are not worthy." Barzun is a brilliant man and only someone who has lived so long could have created this masterpiece. This is not a quick or fainthearted read. You won't agree with everything Barzun says, for he can be very opinionated (but not in an obnoxious way -- though I don't think he would want us to agree with all he says. Reading this book is like sharing the brilliance of a seasoned college professor. He wants you to think about history. I generally don't go for history books, I am much more of a fiction reader, but this was such a fabulous book. I would recommend it to any one with a penchant for history. From Dawn to Decadence is an enhancing, enriching read.
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Title: The Culture We Deserve : A Critique of Disenlightenment by Jacques Barzun, Arthur Krystal ISBN: 0819562378 Publisher: Wesleyan Univ Pr Pub. Date: 15 May, 1989 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Simple & Direct by Jacques Barzun ISBN: 0060937238 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: 18 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: A Jacques Barzun Reader : Selections from His Works by Jacques Barzun ISBN: 0060935421 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 08 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The House of Intellect by Jacques Barzun ISBN: 0313200718 Publisher: A Greenwood Press Reprint Pub. Date: 21 March, 1978 List Price(USD): $73.95 |
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Title: Begin Here: The Forgotten Conditions of Teaching and Learning by Jacques Barzun, Morris Philipson ISBN: 0226038475 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: May, 1992 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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