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

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Summary: Brings Dead White European Males back to Life!
Review: 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: [e-mail]

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Summary: I wonder what will come next
Review: After a lifetime of study, travel, research and reading, Jacques Barzun sums up a history of the last 500 years of Western culture. It is, of course, a fascinating trip, from the awakening of Europe in the Renaissance to our wonderful and yet terrible times, with Internet, amazing advances in health and comfort sharing the world with loonies driving planes into buildings and stupid murderers blowing up schools filled with kids and teachers.

Along the way, Barzun discovers the main themes of Western culture during these past 500 years: emancipation, individualism, progress, material comfort, primitivism, abstraction, analysis and the unconditioned life. Imbedded is also the continual struggle, within the human soul, of the two opposing forces of security and freedom.

This book is cultural philosophy as it should be written: rigorous but at the same time accesible to the reader, with comprehensive indexes and notes at the end of the book, but without cumbersome and intruding footnotes or pedantry. It is a fascinating trip through the development of a way of being in the world. It has wonderful descriptions of what life was like at every stage of history, as the book concentrates not so much on what was happening in politics, war or the economy, but indirectly so, as it focuses on the common life of people and the trends in the arts and sciences.

Along the way, Barzun tells us briefly the stories of many persons, whether or not they are famous nowadays, who made significant contributions, for good and bad, to the current state of the world. He also tells us what books could give the reader a deeper understanding of the trend, situation or character he is analyzing at every moment, which is very useful. Barzun writes alwalys with a tongue in his cheek, with a subtle and acute sense of humor.

Finally, when he analyzes the present, Barzun wraps up his conclusion that the present culture is in its final moments. But beware, the book is not the disappointed lament of an old man in his final days. It is simply a devastating statement about how several forces, which blossomed in the XX Century but which come from trends set before, are destroying the core of Western culture. But he understands that the end of this culture will not necessarily mean the end of the world. Barzun trusts that the West will be able to reinvent itself in a new shape, pass through a period of transition and finally rediscover the many good traits developed in the West in these past 500 years. Not pessimistic nor openly optimistic, this great work of philosophy will surely stimulate in the reader an impulse to look deeper into the current trends of the world and how we got here. It is entertaining and utterly readable in spite of being that long, and the cast of characters is fabulous. Much recommended.

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Summary: Superb look into Western history!
Review: 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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Summary: Fine but flawed account of modern cultural development.
Review: Historian Jacques Barzun has written a wonderful account of the development and history of modern Western culture, an account that perhaps only he could have written. 94 years old and a lifetime student of Western history (who has apparently forgotten nothing he has ever learned) Barzun is uniquely able to chronicle and comment on the cultural currents that have made the last half millenium such a singular period in history. His elegant, clever prose makes the profundity of his observations easy to read and consider. One caveat: this is a cultural history. Barzun assumes the reader's knowledge of the basic chronology of events (your Western Civ text will cover that) and uses the reader's knowledge toframe his descriptions. For example he spends five pages discussing the "savants", the scientists who accompanied Napoleon to Egypt, while virtually ignoring the Napoleonic Wars themselves. The reader should be aware of this prerequisite. Barzun more or less defines his "culture" as "the evolution of art, science, religion, philosophy and social thought" peculiar to Europe and, eventually the Americas over the last five hundred years. He describes "an endless series of opposites in religion, politics, art, morals and manners..." and "...a set of ideas and institutions not found earlier or elsewhere...a unity combined with enormous diversity...The West has been the mongrel civilization par excellence." He defines an era as "a span of 500 years or more, time enough foran evolving culture to work ut its possibilities" and ages as "distinctive spans within an era." the author begins the modern age with two developments, the Reformation and the invention of the printing press. These developments allowed thinkers to challenge the earthly omnipotence of the Roman Church, to relatively rapidly convey their thoughts to one another and to translate works into their own languages, resulting in EMANCIPATION of thought. Barzun uses small caps to underline several defining, recurrent cultural trendsduring the age. The others are INDIVIDUALISM, SELF CONSCIOUSNESS (both tied to emancipation) ANANYSIS, ABSTRACTION (often connected), SCIENTISM, REDUCTIONISM and PRIMITIVISM (a frequent reaction to excesses of the others. He proceeds in a linear narrative through his eras, (Renaissince, Classical, Romantic, Victorian and Modern). He oc- casionally pauses to examine a cultural cross section of a par- ticular city during a particular year. Although in principle this is a nice touch its application is uneven. His account of 1540 Madrid is richly descriptive of court life; he also explains how uncontrolled importation of New World silver led to rampant European inflation, resulting in Bodin's study of the relation between the value of goods and the supply of money in circulation. However his "Weimar, 1790" is uneven, with an unconnected digression on the American Revolution included. (I guess it had to go somewhere). Along the way he explodes somy mythe. Leonardo was not the consummate Renaissance Man, the intolerant Puritans were not nearly as puritannical as believed and Shakespeare's acceptance as a great playwright waxed and waned with literary fashion until the onset of "bardolatry" in the early 19th century. He describes the evolution of the Artist's place in society, the rise of nation states with powerful monarchs (opposed to kinge) and the ascendence of the bourgeoisie, first used to break the power of the nobility by Louis XIV. He explains the difference between a "tale" and a "novel", and between "speech" and "prose". He marks the early Romanticist era as the moment at which Western social thought shifted; when the betterment of Humankind's lot became feasible. Barzun frequently pauses to comment on work of some interesting thinker, often well-known (e.g.Goethe) sometimes almost forgotten (Tasso) or unexpected (Florence Nightingale). He includes "an interlude" arguing that history overlooking Robert Burton's "Anatomy" is "without excuse." Four times he pauses for a "digression on a word". He explores the ambiguous, sometimes conflicting meanings of man (as in human), genius, romantic and pragmatic, and explains how he chooses to use these words. Barzun examines the changing status of women in society. He points out that, at least among the upper classes, during the Renaissance they were the approximate equals of men and that gender relations' low point was probably the Victorian era. He traces the history of evolution from its pre-Darwinian flickers through to its current state of broad acceptance, as well as some divergent aberrations such as phrenology and the bizarre racial theories which led to the rise of National Socialism. I don't think I've encountered a better writer than Barzun at disatilling complex ideas and presenting them succinctly. In a paragraph he fully explains the Zeitgeist of the Romantic Era, in two pages he crystallizes the Pragmatic philosophy of William James. One short chapter lays out the history of the turbulent turn of the last century, which he labels "The Cubist Decade". Throughout the book his thoughts are clear, his facts well ordered and his misses insignificant (the Gateway Arch does not span the Mississippi River). Where Barzun fails however, is his analysis of our current cultural state. His clear threads of continuity suddennly disappear and we are left with an enumeration of the cultural ills of our time. He does not take the time to examine any con- tradictions inherent in our cultural trends. For example he (justifiably) decries the loss of academic standards in university curricula but never speculates that this may be an unintended consequence of the opening of higher education to the working classes (EMANCIPATION). When a less than prosperous individual is able to attend college he is entitled to expect that one benefit will be the means to raise his station in life. It's not that far a jump from this (adminable) proposition (education as means to social mobility) to the inane belief that college is just a glorified trade school. Barzun never really examines the corrent era in this way. Nevertheless the book is an exceptionally good read, profound, well written and clear. Barzun has done a service in summarizing his life's work and it's worth the effort.

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Summary: Interesting cultural musings
Review: 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".

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Summary: Decline of the West?
Review: In "From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present" Jacques Barzun comes as close as one can expect to a thorough yet readable examination of 500 years of cultural history, especially when the culture under study is that of the densely packed western civilization. The 500 years of this study was not chosen by Barzun at random or because it is a nice round number. He chose it because of his belief that western civilization began around the year 1500 with the instigation of the Protestant Reformation by Martin Luther (a belief that I myself share, see my review of Richard Marius' biography of Luther).

Barzun sees the Reformation as the revolution that ushered in western civilization. Barzun says that revolutions are "violent transfer[s] of power and property in the name of an idea." To Barzun, western civilization has experienced four such moments: 1) the religious revolution of the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s, 2) the 17th century monarchical revolution that created the modern nation, 3) the late-18th/early-19th century liberal or individualist revolution that ushered in the rights of man, and 4) the 20th century social and collectivist revolution that led to the creation of the welfare state and which is leading to the demise of the nation-state. These periodic revolutions are important because they augur great shifts in culture which have repeatedly infused western civilization with new great works in literature, music, sculpture, architechture, etc.

The term 'decadence' can easily be misinterpreted from the way that Barzun intends it. Decadence is any period in which the compelling forces from a previous revolution are no longer inspiring works of cultural import. These decadent periods are ripe for revolutions. If no revolution takes place, then that is when decline sets in and destroys the existing civilization. Once decline sets in, it may be impossible to prevent the disintegration of the civilization.

Barzun believes we are at such a period in western history. The collectivist revolution embodied in the Soviet Union and the welfare state has run its course and is no longer inspiring works of genius. Arists of all kinds are casting around for something new and are generally coming up very short in comparison to their predecessors. Barzun says that this is a prime characteristic of a period of decadence. His best example of this is Andy Warhol's 'Brillo Box' sculpture. As Warhol said, "Art is what you can get away with."

Barzun draws on the 500 years of western cultural creations to display this cycle of birth, growth, genius, decay, and rebirth to prove the point. Herein lies the question in Barzun's work: are we at a point of rebirth or decline in western civilization? Barzun seems to point to the latter, especially with his hypothetical view of the present from the space of 300 years. I may not wholly agree with Barzun's assessment; but, I also won't bet against him either.

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Summary: A cultural achievement as great as the subjects it surveys
Review: 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.

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Summary: A Franco-centric View of Western Civilization
Review: 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.

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Summary: Intellectural History of the West - A Brilliant Summary
Review: Jacques Barzun is a peerless scholar on the history of Western civilization. In the past I've read some of his books of essays and shorter works, but from Dawn to Decadence is a massive volume that summarizes cultural life in the West over the last half-millenium. Barzun is a witty, subtle writer of great intelligence who is at the same time very readable. He makes sound but often idiosyncratic judgments that illuminate the great characters of history. Because of his encyclopedic knowledge, Barzun has been compared to Gibbon, who wrote the magesterial Fall of the Roman Empire in the 1770s. This book will also be a classic that will be reprinted time and time again. I can only claim to have read sections of this impressive work, as I research various topics, but each page is full of intelligent insights.

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Summary: A Sweeping Interpretation of Western Culture
Review: Jacques Barzun's book "From Dawn to Decadence" is not a book for the casual reader who knows little of his past; there is simply too much to overwhelm the uninformed. The well read, on the other hand, may find it somewhat unsatisfying, at times, as Barzun covers so much ground that one continuously begs for more detail which rarely is forthcoming. That said, even the most knowledgable will find subjects of interest in this book, and Barzun's interpretation of the development and decline of Western culture is certainly worth understanding.

Barzun takes what he believes are the essential features of Western life, i.e., emancupation, individualism, secularism, self-consciousness, analysis, the free market in ideas, the notion of progress, specialization and abstraction and shows how their development led to revolutionary charges and brilliance. Those who criticize Barzun for a "conservative" outlook would do well to remember that the author understands how positive the "revolutionary" changes in the West have been in many respects. These features of Western culture have led to achievements of the highest order. But, Barzun also comprehends the tendency for people to descend into "primitivism" and, when this is coupled with the extremes of secularization, self-consciousness, analysis, individualism, and specialization, the culture becomes decadent with its loss of vision and vitality. This has been clearly evident for half a century. All values and ideals, when carried to their logical extreme, negate themselves. Let us remember that the past fifty years or so has given us Andy Warhol, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and others of that ilk. The signs of decadence are all around if you care to look. Barzun has examines the trends of Western cultural life for over 500 years and his analysis is to be respected and listened to. And, yes, we should be concerned.