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From Dawn to Decadence: 1500 to the Present: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life by Jacques Barzun
verdunbeach's review
2.0
This started off with one of the best explanations and depictions I've ever read regarding the Protestant Reformation and it's impact on life and thought in the Western World. The first 'Views of the world from X' sections were also jam packed with great insights on the reality of the life of the times.
But as we progress through the pages the cultural history becomes more and more pretentious with authoritative statements about the value of such and such thinker, artist or scientist with no real attempt at objectivity or balance. Names are dropped haphazardly and the structure of the book makes no effort to improve reader retention beyond capitalizing certain key words. It rapidly becomes a convoluted mess of the author's opinions, with real gems of insight hidden here and there but of decreasing frequency.
Everything culminates with a final chapter on the 'Decadence' of the 20th Century. This section is a real embarrassment to the rest of the book, you can't help but picture an old man yelling at the kids to get off his lawn with a typewriter on his knees. And sadly after reading this absurd and overly negative take on all aspects of the modern world, you can't help but question the relevancy of most other points of view the author presented regarding the 400 preceding years.
But as we progress through the pages the cultural history becomes more and more pretentious with authoritative statements about the value of such and such thinker, artist or scientist with no real attempt at objectivity or balance. Names are dropped haphazardly and the structure of the book makes no effort to improve reader retention beyond capitalizing certain key words. It rapidly becomes a convoluted mess of the author's opinions, with real gems of insight hidden here and there but of decreasing frequency.
Everything culminates with a final chapter on the 'Decadence' of the 20th Century. This section is a real embarrassment to the rest of the book, you can't help but picture an old man yelling at the kids to get off his lawn with a typewriter on his knees. And sadly after reading this absurd and overly negative take on all aspects of the modern world, you can't help but question the relevancy of most other points of view the author presented regarding the 400 preceding years.
bearunderthecypresses's review
5.0
So many amazing aphoristic moments from Barzun. I will come back and catalog them on here when next I have a moment. Very instructive for the reader who craves some detailed context about the Western world. *raises-hand* Barzun for the win - as usual.
hayesstw's review against another edition
5.0
I saw this book going cheap in a bookshop that sold remainders -- unsold copies of books returned to the publishers. I knew [a:Jacques Barzun|16173|Jacques Barzun|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1217997216p2/16173.jpg] as one of the authors of [b:The Modern Researcher|110590|MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers|Joseph Gibaldi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1299535760l/110590._SY75_.jpg|229482], which I had found helpful in writing my doctoral thesis. So I bought it, and I'm glad I did.
It's a kind of history and tourist's guide to modernity. It's taken me a long time to read it, because it's a long book. I read other stuff in the mean time, and when I was halfway through I forgot about it for a while. I was moved to pick it up again after an internet discussion on science, magic and miracles, and now at last I've finished it.
It covers a tremendous range of Western culture, and in this age of globalisation you could say it's global culture as well. A generation ago, back in the 1970s, the BBC did two TV series that produced books on similar topics -- [a:Kenneth Clark|58392|Kenneth Clark|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1288660266p2/58392.jpg] on [b:Civilisation|25669|How the Irish Saved Civilization The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe |Thomas Cahill|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403191471l/25669._SY75_.jpg|3285909] and [a:J. Bronowski|15176578|J. Bronowski|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] on [b:The ascent of man|461104|The Ascent of Man|Jacob Bronowski|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1174955816l/461104._SX50_.jpg|2069408] dealing with arts and science respectively. I still remember how uncomfortable I felt at seeing "civilisation" spelt thus. It needed to be spelt "civilization", and "civilisation" just looked wrong, and somehow uncivilized, though I've got used to it now.
Barzun's book deals with the last 500 years of both, and deals with culture, religion, politics and science, and how they have influenced the modern worldview. In doing so, he also draws attention to things one tends to forget or overlook. In thinking of modernity, I tend to think of the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment as the shaping forces. Perhaps that's because, as a missiologist, I see those as the things that formed the worldview of Western missionaries who came to Africa, and that can lead to an over-simplification. I tend to overlook Romanticism, as a reaction against the Enlightenment. I don't forget it altogether, of course. I enjoy Beethoven's music, and J.M.W. Turner's paintings. But most of the 19th-century Western missionaries who came to Africa were anything but romantic in their outlook. Or if they were, they managed to hide it pretty well.
It's a long book, and that's why it took me a long time to read it, but it's also divided into short sections that make it easy to refer to a little at a time. So having read it through, I think I'll keep it at my bedside to refer to again and again.
Here are a few of my favourite bits, and there are many in a book this long:
And, of course, that helped to shape modern Greece as well. It was the Occidental supporters of Greek independence (like Byron), with their Romantic notions of the glories of ancient Greeks, that led modern Greeks to think of themselves as Hellenes rather than Romans, and to produce such abominable slogans as "Hellenism is Orthodoxy and Orthodoxy is Hellenism", and led to the inclusion of Byron in a Greek books of "Saints' names".
It's a kind of history and tourist's guide to modernity. It's taken me a long time to read it, because it's a long book. I read other stuff in the mean time, and when I was halfway through I forgot about it for a while. I was moved to pick it up again after an internet discussion on science, magic and miracles, and now at last I've finished it.
It covers a tremendous range of Western culture, and in this age of globalisation you could say it's global culture as well. A generation ago, back in the 1970s, the BBC did two TV series that produced books on similar topics -- [a:Kenneth Clark|58392|Kenneth Clark|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1288660266p2/58392.jpg] on [b:Civilisation|25669|How the Irish Saved Civilization The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe |Thomas Cahill|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403191471l/25669._SY75_.jpg|3285909] and [a:J. Bronowski|15176578|J. Bronowski|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] on [b:The ascent of man|461104|The Ascent of Man|Jacob Bronowski|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1174955816l/461104._SX50_.jpg|2069408] dealing with arts and science respectively. I still remember how uncomfortable I felt at seeing "civilisation" spelt thus. It needed to be spelt "civilization", and "civilisation" just looked wrong, and somehow uncivilized, though I've got used to it now.
Barzun's book deals with the last 500 years of both, and deals with culture, religion, politics and science, and how they have influenced the modern worldview. In doing so, he also draws attention to things one tends to forget or overlook. In thinking of modernity, I tend to think of the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment as the shaping forces. Perhaps that's because, as a missiologist, I see those as the things that formed the worldview of Western missionaries who came to Africa, and that can lead to an over-simplification. I tend to overlook Romanticism, as a reaction against the Enlightenment. I don't forget it altogether, of course. I enjoy Beethoven's music, and J.M.W. Turner's paintings. But most of the 19th-century Western missionaries who came to Africa were anything but romantic in their outlook. Or if they were, they managed to hide it pretty well.
It's a long book, and that's why it took me a long time to read it, but it's also divided into short sections that make it easy to refer to a little at a time. So having read it through, I think I'll keep it at my bedside to refer to again and again.
Here are a few of my favourite bits, and there are many in a book this long:
The 18C, that is, Diderot on Painting, Lessing on the Laokoon, and finally Winckelmann on Greece, made detailed art criticism an institution. Its role is part scholarship, part advocacy. Winckelmann's lifelong work was to glorify Greek art and discredit the Roman and this to revivify Plato's belief that Beauty is divine and to be loved and worshipped. It may be a symbolic coincidence that Winckelmann was the victim of a homosexual murderer.
Every age has a different ancient Greece. Winckelmann's is the one that moved the 19C. By way of Goethe, Byron, Keats and lord Elgin, it inspired the universal urge to put a picture of the Parthenon in every schoolroom. It also aroused the Occident to support the Greeks' war of independence against the Turks.
And, of course, that helped to shape modern Greece as well. It was the Occidental supporters of Greek independence (like Byron), with their Romantic notions of the glories of ancient Greeks, that led modern Greeks to think of themselves as Hellenes rather than Romans, and to produce such abominable slogans as "Hellenism is Orthodoxy and Orthodoxy is Hellenism", and led to the inclusion of Byron in a Greek books of "Saints' names".
eralon's review
4.0
I did not especially enjoy reading this which is why I initially gave up after 200 pages. But I hate quitting things, and this is one of my dad's books, so I persisted. It's definitely interesting the way he handles European culture of 500 years, which is too long a time period even for a book this long, but it was a good try.
I initially was thinking 3 stars, but I bumped up my stars when I got to the end and read his summation of more modern history. I wonder how I would have viewed the previous 400-year summaries if I'd read the end first. It's a pretty good summary of life as we know it though it's pretty damning as well.
Finally, another reason for bumping to 4 stars is that I intend to keep the book as a list of "people and things to read about next."
Big demerit for spoiling the plots of many classical books on my to-read shelf! Almost enough to keep me to 3 stars, but I was feeling generous because I was so happy to be finished with this tome.
I initially was thinking 3 stars, but I bumped up my stars when I got to the end and read his summation of more modern history. I wonder how I would have viewed the previous 400-year summaries if I'd read the end first. It's a pretty good summary of life as we know it though it's pretty damning as well.
Finally, another reason for bumping to 4 stars is that I intend to keep the book as a list of "people and things to read about next."
Big demerit for spoiling the plots of many classical books on my to-read shelf! Almost enough to keep me to 3 stars, but I was feeling generous because I was so happy to be finished with this tome.
slyallm's review against another edition
2.0
My idea was to read this as a penance for skipping "Intro to Western Civ." Bad idea, Steve. Consider the entirety of Barzun's writing about The Dreyfus Affair (p 630):
"Like another piece of make-believe, but grimmer, the incredibly long-drawn-out Dreyfus Affair aroused passion and prejudice throughout the world. In France the chain of misdeeds - treason, coercion, perjury, forgery, suicide, and manifest injustice - re-created the cleavage of "the two Frances," always recurring at critical moments. The nearest had been "1789"; the next was to come with the German occupation in 1940. The battle about Captain Dreyfus's innocence while he was in prison for life on Devil's Island posed for intellectuals on both sides the dilemma: the individual or the state? Zola's decisive appeal to public opinion was argued in rational detail, not in ringing tones,as suggested by the defiant title "J'accuse" supplied by Clemenceau, and INDIVIDUALISM finally triumphed."
Oh, that cleavage of the two Frances. And oh hey Zola and Clemenceau, those rascals who we all call by one name as if they are on our company softball team. And oh hey also me, who read this a couple times, and still had no idea what the Dreyfus Affair was. (I googled.) The Dreyfus affair came up a few more times in passing in the next 300 pp, each time dutifully referenced back to p 630, and that paragraph that does not in any way elucidate the Dreyfus Affair. So that is my experience with this book, in a nutshell: it made me feel dumber.
Barzun comes across as very much the smug old white professor, and that doesn't play as well today as in the 1990's. Some of his schtick is charming -- "the book, like the bicycle, is a perfect form" -- but more of it has not aged well, including more multiple extended takes and off-handed comments that come off today as barely veiled sexism. But he really falls apart when he gets to the last 100 pages, the "decadence" of the title, I guess. He goes full Abe Simpson yelling at a cloud, and fwiw his description of decay also seems a little tired today (e.g. the crime epidemic). He did correctly predict that the internet would ruin everything, so points for that, but otoh without Wikipedia I would not have learned anything from this book at all.
"Like another piece of make-believe, but grimmer, the incredibly long-drawn-out Dreyfus Affair aroused passion and prejudice throughout the world. In France the chain of misdeeds - treason, coercion, perjury, forgery, suicide, and manifest injustice - re-created the cleavage of "the two Frances," always recurring at critical moments. The nearest had been "1789"; the next was to come with the German occupation in 1940. The battle about Captain Dreyfus's innocence while he was in prison for life on Devil's Island posed for intellectuals on both sides the dilemma: the individual or the state? Zola's decisive appeal to public opinion was argued in rational detail, not in ringing tones,as suggested by the defiant title "J'accuse" supplied by Clemenceau, and INDIVIDUALISM finally triumphed."
Oh, that cleavage of the two Frances. And oh hey Zola and Clemenceau, those rascals who we all call by one name as if they are on our company softball team. And oh hey also me, who read this a couple times, and still had no idea what the Dreyfus Affair was. (I googled.) The Dreyfus affair came up a few more times in passing in the next 300 pp, each time dutifully referenced back to p 630, and that paragraph that does not in any way elucidate the Dreyfus Affair. So that is my experience with this book, in a nutshell: it made me feel dumber.
Barzun comes across as very much the smug old white professor, and that doesn't play as well today as in the 1990's. Some of his schtick is charming -- "the book, like the bicycle, is a perfect form" -- but more of it has not aged well, including more multiple extended takes and off-handed comments that come off today as barely veiled sexism. But he really falls apart when he gets to the last 100 pages, the "decadence" of the title, I guess. He goes full Abe Simpson yelling at a cloud, and fwiw his description of decay also seems a little tired today (e.g. the crime epidemic). He did correctly predict that the internet would ruin everything, so points for that, but otoh without Wikipedia I would not have learned anything from this book at all.
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