Rating: 
Summary: Very Readable and Insightful Book
Review: My sister recommended this book to me during our vacation together. I could not put her copy down and when we got to the bookstore I purchased my own! I found it is very readable and it gives you a good picture of the philosophies, people and events that have shaped our culture today. I am a teacher(third grade)and found it helpful to put names and ideas together. Barzun is very well read and he is able to connect ideas in different areas such as the arts and sciences providing good insights. I found it fascinating and have been talking to everyone I know about this book! I also just read the Seekers by Daniel Boorstin. It is a good book but I enjoyed Barzun better.
Rating: 
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.
Rating:
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.
Rating: 
Summary: This Book Was a Struggle!!
Review: I have owned this book for over a year and have struggled to get through it, despite my best efforts. Even on the sea days of a long cruise last summer, I was unable to get interested in this plodding, tedious, and at times pompously-written tome. While I have the greatest respect for the author's encyclopedic knowledge, I found the narrative dull and uncaptivating. As bedside reading, this book worked wondered for its soporific effects -- far better than any prescription medication.
Rating:
Summary: Right Assessment, Questionable Prognosis
Review: I first came to know Jacques Barzun as an undergrad, having been issued Barzun & Graff's "The Modern Researcher" for my historiography class. In research, the emphasis is on rigor. The great nineteenth-century philosopher G.W.F. Hegel also emphasized rigor. Lose your rigor and you lose your integrity. This is how Hegel accounts for the fate of nations and I think Barzun shares this belief, as he chronicles western civilization, from its infancy - its dawn - to today's world, witnessing the devolution not only of nations (UK, the Balkans, Russia) but of western civilization itself (multi-culturalism, moral relativism, breakdown of the nuclear family). Barzun's masterful narrative skills and prodigous knowledge make "Dawn to Decadence" wonderful reading. For this alone I give it 4 stars. And I certainly agree with him that today's academy is in a sorry state, in thrall as it is with structuralist and linguistic cusuistry, serving no purpose outside pedagogical exercises yet infecting the minds of undergraduates, our future social leaders, with a nihilistic and enervated outlook, resulting in a fatuous, aimless, hedonistic - decadent - body cultural and politic, ill-equipped and unwilling to provide the life support necessary for a civilization with a vital future. I contrast Barzun with Kenneth Clark, another student of Western Civilization, who reaches much the same conclusions. But while Barzun sees the over-refined and fatuous, Clark sees the youthful and dynamic. Thus, I doubt if the late Lord Clark would agree with Barzun's rather gloomy outlook. Jacques Barzun is a product of the nineteenth century, which ended in 1945. What some would call the malaise of the fifty-odd years that followed, the truncated twentieth century, was actually a hangover from the nineteenth. Barzun is like many old men who believe that the world of "today" is going to hell in a teapot. I think that while Barzun diagnoses the state of contemporary Western Civilization correctly, his prognosis is less sound, because he doesn't understand "today" now as well as he understood "today" in his youth or in his prime. Frankly, I think our world has emerged from the mess which Barzun's world created in a much better state than anyone, knowing the sorry history of the world until then, had any right to expect. Kierkegaard said life can only be understood backward - you can explain only the past - but can only be lived forward. I only wish Barzun - and I, for that matter - could be around fifty years from now to see that his despair of Western Civilization was unwarranted.
Rating:
Summary: The Intellectual Tourist
Review: This challenging work argues that the last 500 years form a distinct period during which the Occident has made tremendous advances in culture and science, only to have run out of steam in the present day and fallen into a state of decadence. Barzun compares the modern era to the glorious past, and like so many before him, he finds it wanting. The author invites you to become an intellectual tourist as he surveys the highlights of the last five centuries. The terrain is familiar, but the perspective is individual, the interpretations often quirky and you are always challenged to re-examine your assumptions. Two unusual features of Barzun's book are the quotations in bold type that are scattered around the text to illustrate his points and his recommendations of books to read on topics of special interest. The latter serves as a sort of eccentric bibliography in miniature, and has furnished this reviewer with many happy ideas for future reading. The most provocative remarks are reserved for the last part of the book, which provides a long list of what the author feels is wrong with western society at the end of the millenium. Some of these are the usual complaints of the fastidious conservative, while others are harder to dismiss. Readers will have to decide for themselves where they stand on these issues, and whether they agree with Mr. Barzun that "Western Civ." is going down the tubes. But it's a fascinating journey, and Jacques Barzun is a wonderful guide.
Rating:
Summary: A Frank Look at this Book
Review: I began reading this book on June 3 and read at it steadily till I finished it yesterday, June 10. (I don't think one should inflict one's review of a book on others unless one does actaully read the entire book.) I found this book tedious at times, especially, naturally, when he was talking about things I know little about and really don't care very much about--the more obscure things about painting, for instance. Some reviewers have mentioned Paul Johnson and Norman Davies. I read (on March 8, 1992) Johnson's Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Nineties and found it much easier and more fun to read than this book. I also (on Jan 7, 1998) read Norman Davies' Europe: A History, and found it more interesting and a lot easier reading than this book (and not simply because it is not a cultural history as this book of Barzun's is). There are a lot of good things in this book, but the poor footnoting is an example of poor editing. At times I could find no footnote for the page even tho a footnote was indicated. And I would have liked a real bibliography, or at least a list of every book the author tells us we should read (I know, I should have made a list of his recommendations as I was reading--but how convenient it would be to have all the recommendations listed on a couple of pages, instead of having to go thru the book hunting them!). I am somewhat hesitant to read what he recommends since I did not find the book he wrote compelling reading. But there is much worth reading and savoring in this book, and the last chapter says many true things about today's world.
Rating:
Summary: Unfocused; poor writing
Review: Put quite simply, Barzun seems more interested in filling his pages with minutiae and irrelevant details regarding his subjects than focusing on a solid narrative that culminates in a specific argument. I really think all this book is is a huge kitchen sink of disjointed (sometimes interesting, most of the time not) reflections by a historian who is out of step with current scholarship and issues. This is the kind of book that gives history a bad name, in my opinion. It is shallow, pompous, and will not sink down to the reader's level to allow him or her to enjoy the glories of its subject. Well that's not high brow it's just poor writing. In comparison, I recently read Alistaire Horne's book on the siege and commune in Paris and I simply could not believe how extraordinary the prose was in that book. Albeit horses of a different color...the bottom line is that I think that you should read a history book in which the writing is captivating and intimately relates you with its subject. Given this criteria, "From Yawn To Decadence" is a failure.
Rating:
Summary: Inspirational
Review: Jacques Barzun is an intellectual's intellectual. From Dawn to Decadence is not only one of the most intellectually stimulating books I've read in a while but it is inspirational for anyone who wishes to transcend Western culture's intellectual shoddiness. Not only does one come away from the work with a sense of what a full life of the mind used to look like but, in Mr. Barzun's erudition, one sees a living model of the depth and richness of the well-trained intellect. I would recommend this book for anyone who wishes to expand their grounding in Western civilization.
Rating:
Summary: a very dull encyclopedia
Review: I didn't think this book deserved one star, but it's the lowest mark I'm allowed to give. I am truly puzzled by all the high praise this book is getting on the online reviews (which was the reason I bought the book). If you are not familiar with European cultural/intellectual history, then this book is not going to be that interesting. You would be much better served reading one of the standard European history textbooks. D to D goes into too much esoteric (and I believe superfluous in many cases) details to be of much interest to the novice. If you are well-versed in European history, then this book is simply an encyclopedia - a review of what you already learned. Of course, Barzun adds details that I didn't know before, but most of it is simply dull and irrelevant. I felt that a lot of times, he was providing information to just show off his encyclopedic knowledge, which is substantial. However, he doesn't really provide any interesting insights or new ways to view history. Without such really interesting ideas, Barzun has tried to compensate with a lot of dull tidbits.
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