Customer Reviews

From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life - 1500 to Present

5 star:		(77)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

This is a masterfully in-depth survey of cultural evolution. Barzun goes several layers of fame down, to show the significance of numerous poorly remembered innovators, whose contributions rival those of more often-repeated names. For just one example we have Lady Marquise de Ramboullet, who in the 1600s opened her Paris salon, dedicated to high-minded conversation between men and women. The issues her guests discussed included government, science, or the church -- subjects which were previously matters for men of rank. But here a cultured woman set the rules and tone for debate on matters public and private. In de Ramboullet's game, the object was not to "win" arguments or humiliate opponents, but to stimulate creativity, interaction, and mutual admiration. The participants were to treat each other as ladies and gentlemen, the way they dreamed of being treated themselves. Their competition was to raise the level of consideration and self-respect for every guest. Perhaps de Ramboullet's salon was a sophisticated play, set apart from the real world. But the play soon became a standard by which the world and its human relations were judged. (p. 187-188)

With loads of lights like this for century after century, who cares if Barzun turns into a sour-puss on contemporary culture by the book's end?

--author of Correcting Jesus

Jacque Barzun's "From Dawn to Decadence" is a rich and highlight-detailed accounting of the progress of western civilization from 1500 to the late 20th century. However, the work is characterized by a few personal quirks on the part of the author that might be of interest to anyone who would consider this work to be a "classic" of historical writing and free of such individualistic or stylistic characteristics.

Being French, the author shares the arrogance of many Francophone intellectuals who ascribe too much intellectual and cultural influence to their Gallic heritage. From Barzun's Franco-centric perspective, there were few ideas worthy of the name that originated anywhere else in the civilized world, much less globally. Such a bias gives little credit to the intellectual history of the Middle East and the Orient, which pre-date the various French Republics by hundreds or even thousands of years. And American and British contributions to the world of ideas are mostly derivative, in Barzun's view.

Like other well-known foreign-born writers who make English their lingua franca, Barzun tends to assume his command of English-its grammar, syntax, and vocabulary-are at least the equal of any native speaker of English, especially those who choose to call themselves intellectuals. Because of this, many of his sentences are at best convoluted and over-long, and at worst are unintelligible, lacking normal subject-verb agreement or perhaps reflecting a reflexive or subconscious attempt to "fit" this mongrelized English syntax and its rules into a more familiar and linguistically-pure French language construction. Nabokov's "Lolita" reflected a similar unjustified exhibitionism with regard to the use of a second language that the writer assumed he knew better than he did.

Finally, Barzun's eccentric insistence on using the term "techne" as a replacement for the word "technology," that is well known and understood in common English usage, reflects an ignorance of writing for a "lay" public. Perhaps such free-form constructivist foibles are tolerated in academic journals and high-specialized monographs in which an academic is seeking to establish himself in a field, but in a work intended for the generalist, such novel creations serve only to confuse rather than enlighten.

All of this said, Barzun's "Dawn to Decadence" is still a magnificent work and one that would serve a variety of factual and source reference purposes, as long as one keeps in mind the apparent Franco-centric biases of its author about such sources and his interpretations of them.

I would have given this book 4 stars as I found Barzun's coverage of the first 400 years of western life to be quite illuminating. Like previous reviewers I have to take a star off for sloppy editing. I originaly thought that Barzun was trying to make a point about how there is too much emphasis on grammer and how 'Perfection increases as inspiration decreases'p.74. Some of the mistakes can be quite unintentionaly amusing, for instance the constant mis-spelling of the word 'rhyming' by the word 'riming'. But major gaffs such as 'when its sequel (WWII) broke out in 1940' and 'The East Timorese nearly destroyed Indonesia' shows not just a lack of knowledge about history but also of current affairs.

When Barzun bemoans the rise in the crime rate and in the prison population, he is talking largely about an American problem. Crime rates in Canada are significantly lower and the UK and the Irish Republic manage to maintain largely unarmed police forces. Something we could hardly do if we suffered from epidemic bouts of criminal activity. Then there's the laughable assertion that in the 19th century, crime was a rather jovial affair where cops and criminals knew each other, playing a high stakes game and 'killing had a clear motive'p.696. Just look around the world today and you'll see that killing has never had so many clear motives. Terrorists don't suffer from a Freudian death wish or notions about the 'absurdity' of the human condition.

Most of Barzun's laments about the decline of Western culture seem to be focused entirely on the rise of the welfare state and the 'Great Switch' from liberalism. The doctrine of which is the best government is that which governs least. However when it comes to geography and population Barzun makes a great switch to the opposing view, the best government is that which governs most! For him the current vogue of independant cultural identities seeking independant political states is a thorn in the side of the idea of developing a common culture. Yet for the first 350 years of the period covered we are talking about the culture of mainly propertied white males. Nothing wrong with that, propertied white males have done more than any other minority to shape the world we live in today. But they are just that, a minority. Once the seeds of education have spread worldwide, there is no reason why a working-class black woman should not demand to frame the world through her experience and on her terms just as much as a propertied white male does.

Barzun seems annoyed that the idea of EMANCIPATION that white males have argued over and fought for for 500 years are now being taken up by non-whites all over the world. Even within predominantly white cultures generic nation state terms such as 'British' can seem oppressive and for the most part mis-leading. The constant mis-use of the term 'British' to mean 'English' is a case in point. 'British' has traditionaly stood for English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh.

The ideas and attitudes which he says have shaped our age, Compassion, Irreverence and Creativity, have produced some of the greatest popular art of the post-war world (The Beatles anyone?). What is most prominant in Barzun's tome however is his passionate embrace of liberal economics. Compassion for instance 'requires a constant supply of the poor and the weak, instead of encouraging the healthful and reliant' p.621. These could be the exact sentiments of Charles Trevelyan, head of the relief effort of the largest humanitarian disaster in the 19th century 'Occident', the Irish potato famine, which is mystifyingly overlooked in Barzun's thesis. The fact that in the western part of the richest, most powerful, most industrialized, most democratic and most 'cultured' nation in the world, one million people starved to death, is enough for most to question the benevolance of large nation states and the 'human' benefits of lassiez-faire.

The moneterist policies of Thatcher and Reagan also get ignored. Since both these 'radical' leaders came to power in 1979 and 1980 respectively, the welfare state in the Anglo-American world of which Barzun is most familiar, has been stripped of its coffers year after year. With Bush's recent tax cut measures, you can be sure that the most expendable department of federal funding will be the arts.

The New Left and the counter-culture of the '60's has been described as 'the last gasp of the western soul', searching for some sense of community. It was the unrestrained free-marketeers who have lowered the cultural levels for all. This is their world. The radical free-marketeers believe nothing should get in the way of making a buck. This ideology culminated in Thatcher's infamous 1987 statement 'There is no such thing as society'. George W. Bush has a much greater understanding of Marx than Jacques Barzun. He understands that history isn't moved by things (as Barzun misunderstands Marx) but by material needs. The time and effort put into securing the oil fields in Iraq (base), while the museums and galleries of Baghdad (superstructure) were largely ignored is testament to his view of history.

The book arrived quite fast and in very good condition.
But.
But it lacked the dust cover that was offered.

A most refreshing read in that Jacques Barzun, a ninety something scholar infuses much needed life into western culture.
The enthusiasm and care that he puts into making his impressive scholarship available to the less well read amongst us is admirable in itself. Even more admirable is his dedication to restoring integrity to the western canon considering what bad press it is getting these days from the academic left. Highly recommended!

Jaye Beldo: Netnous@Aol.Com

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.

It must be near impossible for any scholar to sit down and list man's top cultural achievements. Sorting out the criteria that make things great cultural achievements would take tremendous effort in the first place and then understanding man's products well enough to compile them into a tangible record is another. Barzun has done both with "From Dawn to Decadence."

In doing so, he most emphatically adds an entry to the list. This is true because Barzun is able to consistently and effortlessly take the reader from the everyday antipathy of Western decadence to the highest peaks of man's product. Whether the reader explores the Reformation or the Industrial Revolution, the concepts that make man great, those that make life worth living are closer than ever. Barzun's mastery of prose (he must compete with all great writers for distinction of best all-time) and his ability to fully engage ideas make this possible.

If the reader is able to walk away from this text at all, he does so with a newly found amazement. The inspiration this book offers is sure to be a driving force in the foundation of a new era of cultural production to follow the one reviewed in the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book but it took quite a while to work my way through it! For anyone interested in reading pay attention to the title. This is a "cultural" history rather than the usual chronolgy of kings, battles and revolutions. As a cultural history is is quite good.
I gave only three stars because I felt the book did wander around a bit (albeit very interesting wanderings).
I enjoyed his description of the modern age "embracing the absurd". In this section he depicts the modern age as rejecting rationalism and reason for the absurd. The cultural movers and shakers see the horrific events of the 20th century as the result of rationalism and reason and take a reactionary stance. In a larger context, the author depicts this as the full fruit of the romantic reaction of earlier centuries but portrays a dramatic shift after the first world war. Fascinating.
If you enjoy this kind of exploration you may also enjoy Roger Scruton's " An Intelligent Person's Guide to Modern Culture".

When I state decadent free in the title it is with the same meaning Mr. Barzun gives decadence. Decadent meaning aimless, and pointless which this book certainly is not. It is written the way all history should be written. A grand (and lengthy) overview of the last half millenium with the connections clearly revealed, like steps in a staircase to where and why we are in a decadent present.

I'm always gratified when a writer will educate but also rectify commen contemporary misconceptions of terms, lines of thought, or ism's. A few examples of note are Mr Barzuns illuminations of the origins of Utopia (are current popular conception is far off from the original meaning) and the birth of the perception of the Noble Savage or "Primitivism"(Rousseau seems to be exonerated).

While most modern day critics are lining up to crucify Catholicism with its closed centralized hierarchy Mr. Barzun takes aim at Protestantism, not to vilify but to lucidly proclaim it as a determining factor as to are current adrift amorality. This alone assures that Mr Barzun is no common postmodern deconstructionist self servingly deciphering the past for common socio-political advantage. Wow! What a concept. Thinking subjectivly. This elderly gentleman satisfies me that the generation that followed him is the culmination of the past five hundred years, and his hope of a possible change, can occur. Why? Because I for one (an X er)agree with him and not with the decadent baby boom and there Primitivist, Humanist mediocrity.

I'm not sure why other reviewers grow weary at the length of this book. I for one would be disappointed at this endeavor if it was left to the length of a pulp novel or magazine article in todays "fast paced information age".

The only reason I gave this book four and not five stars is because I couldn't get a hard covered version. I don't want this book to fall apart after a few readings. It should be in everyones library.

I discovered, halfway through, that I had left my bowling ball between pages 446 and 447. It got much lighter after I removed the bowling ball.

A brilliant exegesis on the history of intellectual and humanistic progress. Nevertheless, hard to square with some of the findings in Ann Coulter's latest work.