A review by smuds2
From Dawn to Decadence: 1500 to the Present: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life by Jacques Barzun

reflective medium-paced

2.0

I would skip the last quarter of the book if I were you. He is best in this book when talking about 15-19th century. As soon as he starts talking about 20th century he just becomes an old man complaining about youths on his lawn. There is absolutely NO accounting for actual causes of the “degradations” of society. Considering that’s like, his main thesis, it makes for a pretty disappointing book tbh. Like at one point he’s like “politics has gotten so ugly these days, just character attacks” without even MENTIONING the potential causes for it. Just like “things used to be so much more refined” - like, dude, 24hr news coverage as functional propaganda upheld as very cool by the state might have something to do with it - not just “and then around 1915 everyone became savages”

I particularly enjoyed the first two quarters, I thought it was very interesting to see how certain ideas traced, evolved over hundreds of years. Seems a bit simplified, but whaddya gonna do