From Dawn to Decadence, Part 1

by Jacques Barzun, Edward Lewis (Read by)

Jacques Barzun is the dean of American intellectuals. From Dawn to Decadence is, in many ways, the crowning achievement of his long career. Not just cursory summary that one might expect of a book of this breadth, this 500-year study represents a major reexamination of Western cultural life, where it has gone, and where it is going. As the New York Times reviewer put it, "in short...peerless."

Audio Cassette

Published January 1, 2001

About the author

Works of French-American educator, author, and historian Jacques Martin Barzun include Darwin, Marx, Wagner (see Charles Robert Darwin, Karl Marx, and Richard Wagner) (1941) and The American University (1968).

He presented ideas and culture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques...

Reviews

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

This part goes from 1500 to the late 18th Century, circa 1789. This is a vast, encompassing history as saga - a cultural history that is focused on philosophy, the arts, and technological innovation and largely skips over such usual history fodder as battles and bold explorers. There are two elements I really like about this presentation: in-place recommendations to further reading rather than a detached bibliography (including what to skim or what to read in-depth) and similarly at-hand immediate glossing for important facts of etymology and shades of meaning.

I thought I was alone in being peeved by the vacuous pronouncements of social niceties. I was glad to see here quoted support that Samuel Johnson agrees:

Johnson. "My dear friend, clear your mind of cant. You may talk as other people do: you may say to a man, 'Sir, I am your most humble servant. You are not his most humble servant. You may say, 'These are sad times; it is a melancholy thing to be reserved to such times." You don't mind the times. You tell a man, "I am sorry you had such bad weather the last day of your journey, and were so much wet." You don't care six-pence whether he was wet or dry. You may talk in this manner; it is a mode of talking in Society; but don't think foolishly."
- Life of Johnson, Vol 1