Rating: 
Summary: Watching the beauty of Western culture unfold.
Review: I rarely read history books. I spent nearly a month reading this 800-page book. Not surprisingly, it took Barzun "a lifetime" to write this book. From both standpoints, it was definitely worth the time and effort, for Barzun triumphs at bringing the last 500 years of Western culture to life for his reader.One of the recurring points of this book is that there is cultural beauty buried in the silence of the past (p. 177). Western culture inches along not so much chronologically in this book as thematically. Barzun employs themes of emancipation, individualism, primitivism, abstraction, and self-consciousness to survey the last half millennium. Culture is not linear, Barzun observes, but rather "a web of many strands; none is spun by itself, nor is any cut off at a fixed date." Barzun divides his book into four parts. Part I covers Luther's Protestant Reformation (the "ripple" that became a "tidal wave") to Pascal, and then Burton's studies on melancholy. Part II then picks up with the monarchial revolution of the 17th Century, ending with the French Revolution in 1789. Part III starts with Romanticism and ends with Freud. Part IV begins with the bloodshed of WWI, and ends by merging seamlessly into the present. Along the way, Barzun's observations are fascinating. For instance, we witness the 1755 Lisbon earthquake resulting in a "brutal confirmation of disbelief" in a personal God (p. 378). We visit the Cafe Procope in Paris during the 1820s and 1830s, "the meeting place of artists and writers native and foreign." During the Industrial Revolution, we find Thomas Carlyle guarding his soul from the flood of "cheap and nasty" goods, while manufacturers and bankers are all hoping to "get rich" (p. 526). At page 620, we meet Walter Pater attempting to live his life with intensity, "to burn with a gem-like flame." Perhaps this is to say readers will find their own favorite sections of this book. One of mine was "Things Ride Mankind" (pp. 557-89), in which Barzun discusses in a single chapter the invention of the steam engine and railroad in 1830, Darwin's ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES in 1859 and the Victorian "debate on religion and science," the craze for "ghostly seances," Baudelaire's FLEURS DU MAL, bohemia, Florence Nightingale, and Karl Marx. Again, I normally don't read history books, and strayed outside my usual reading habits by purchasing this book. But as I approached page 800 of Barzun's big, enjoyable book of history, I actually found myself hoping for more, and wondering, too, what cultural beauty will unfold in the next 500 years. G. Merritt
Rating:
Summary: From Dawn to Decadence
Review: A couple years ago I had read Barzun's "Teacher in America" and enjoyed it immensely. When I saw this book, I grabbed it. This is a terrific book, a tour de force. I had been a science & engineering major and therefore more than a little light on the humanities. Barzun writes in an artful, entertaining, yet informative style. This book should be the text of a mandatory lower division humanities course for every university in America. Barzun's latest is a wonderful antidote to the detractors of Western Civ and the proponents of content-free "studies of XXX" courses now offered. I'm buying a second copy for my college-bound daughter.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book on the Subject
Review: I find myself rereading From Dawn to Decadence every year since it was published. In fact, browsing a book store, I am regularly tempted to buy more copies. It is, without question, one of the best books in recent memory. One comes away with new insight from every sentence. It is simply a thrilling read. In contrast other massive works such as the Penguin History of the World, Barzun is a genius with clarity. Barzun fills From Dawn to Decadence with colorful anecdotes and quotes to spark the imagination. Not only all this, but Barzun is right about his thesis on the Modern Era. Excellent.
Rating: 
Summary: Historically Enlightened
Review: OK,a HISTORY text of this length is a challenge. But the depth & scope are so thoughtfully displayed--it creates a sense that there is indeed-- actually some pattern amidst the chaos & madness. Life, legacy and self-examination often become overwhelming. This book cuts through the bog of self-doubt and frustration. It provides a path thru the journey of who we are and where we're going--by clearing discussing where we've been. I know it's good, when I find myself picking it up to browse again and again. I know it's great when I am compelled to recommend it to others.
Rating:
Summary: A WITHERING LEAF
Review: If we allow ourselves to be trapped between the jaws of our imagination and our reality -- between that better world we dream of and the worse one we inhabit -- we may find our condition a very unsatisfactory one; and one of our traditional compensation is to look down on history, at all those cultural vacuums humans have failed to fill in with their mental activity. Our human world may seem cruel and brief; but in the rest of nature at least it is worse. This consolation does not bear close scrutiny, for what is revealed then is not a universe of hazard-bestowed privilege, one in which man stands highest on the ladder of luck, but one in which there reigns a mysterious balance and equality among all the forms of animate matter. I believe this book tries to show five centuries of human comparative pleasure in existing in a descending scale of mental decadence... perhaps this is even happening right now. Where does cultural future lay? Is the Western World withering away as the cultural desert advances? Who will take the lead--- Africa, East Asia, Mars?
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Summary: An Intellectual Tour de Force
Review: This is obviously a rather long book, as one of the other reviewers noted. Still, it packs more information and reflection into its pages than any other work I can recall. One of the nicest attributes is that one can pick it up at any time or place and read 10 or 20 pages with real profit. It is an education for all ages and levels of schooling and reveals many of the treasures that were lost with the demise of Western Civ courses. Prof. Barzun does something only a few writers accomplish: he makes the great minds of our tradition (and he probably qualifies for this group as well) seem like friends and acquaintances (sometimes not good ones). This is a book that makes the reader a better and more accomplished person for the effort...
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Summary: A Literal Time Machine!
Review: This book is a real treasure. Although over 800 pages in length, every page is illuminating. I may read it again believe it or not. Everything today seems confusing. We don't know why or what. But when you see how everything has a cause, as this author brillantly shows, we can virtually "see" how we got where we are today. Buy the book and feel yourself grow! After reading this book, everything around you will seem different. Like looking through new glasses. Get ready for a 500-year-ride!
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Summary: History for the uninitiated
Review: "I HATE history!" my friend said as he lifted this book from my coffee table and began casually thumbing through it. An hour later he had not put it down yet. To someone who is bored by history this is the book to spark their interest. To a student of history, this is like a 500 year buffet, you just don't know what to put on your plate! A great way to kill a day. By no means exhaustive, but I was surprised how much info can be put into an 800 page book covering 500 years.
Rating:
Summary: 800 pages which move as quickly as 200
Review: Although my first love is reading about American history, an understanding of all the main events of Western Society since the discovery of America provided a very valuable read for me. For example, by understanding the Protestant Reformation better, religious movements in colonial America are put into better perspective. When I open a book of 800 or so pages, my first thought is "Oh Lord, how am I going to plow through this?" However, this book is so enthralling that it moves as quickly as a short novel. I find the type of writing in this book to be absolutely captivating.. the writing I refer to is that which has a point of view but is not the product of an idealogue. The author states an intelligent point of view, throughout, certainly one which can be disagreed with, but certainly reasonable and thoughtful. Barzun is like the great historian Paul Johnson in that he is able to weave biographical information of key historical figures as well as in depth coverage of culture, religion, economics, philosophy etc. Additionally, this is a history of real people, not just a survey of wars and great men/women. In this respect, the book is like Johnson's "The Birth of the Modern," and "History of the American People." Finally, I must point out that although a review stated that his viewpoint is generally conservative, he makes numerous points which would find agreement among leftists. True he defends Western culture and is wary of political correctness. However, he is not an obssessed idealogue and, as for example in his discussion of religious development, he offers observations which might offend traditionalists. Although he may, in fact, be generally conservative, I don't think his views are easily subject to labels. If you are interested in world events, this survey of the last half millenium is 5 stars plus! And, if you are interested in America, the development of world events in a time period coinciding with the development of the New World is a must. I highly recommend this book for all history lovers.
Rating:
Summary: thorough and sensible
Review: Barzun's work is at once entertaining and analytical. Although one may at first be skeptical about the accidental relationship between the themes he compares, Barzun ultimately runs full circle by articulating a cultural commonality, a narrative thread to the past 500 years. There are a thousand lanes in the literary city which Barzun erects: at each there is a scene which relates a unique persona, odd events, and concrete specifics of the ages. Although disparate, these events, ideas, and persons which Barzun covers are by no means inconsequential. Barzun argues (successfully, in my own view, judge for yourself) that several dominant themes and tendencies of "the West" are truly virtues, in need of being saved and perpetuated. No Pangloss, Barzun is more than ready to admit the faults and vices which have gripped "the West" throughout the past half-millenia". His hesitancy to launch right out into uncritical praise makes From Dawn to Decadence all the more objective. From Dawn to Decadence is immense, scholarly, and cleanly articulated. Barzun's unique faculty for fresh insight abounds, and his reluctance to end at the first layer of analysis gives the reader a fairly deep understanding of the themes and patterns of Western culture. Traditionally historical works impart the "what?" of history: Barzun reflects upon the "so what?" of human events. Both historical and argumentative, From Dawn to Dusk is a well-balanced inquiry into the relationship between ideas and events.
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