From Dawn to Decadence：1500 to the Present: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life

Thebestselling(NewYorkTimesNo.3)historychroniclinghalfamillenniumofWesternculture.FromDawnToDecadenceistheFrench-AmericanhistorianJacquesBarzun’sgreatopus.Itistheproductofalifetimeofseparatestudieswhichhenowsetsdowninonepowerfulnarrative,interspersinghisentertaininganalysisofwars,philosophy,science,manners,sex,religion,morals,art,etal,fromtheReformationtothepresentday,withbiographicalsketchesofinfluentialhistoricalfigures(includingLuther,CharlesV,Descartes,Bacon,Machiavelli,Shakespeare,Cromwell,PetertheGreat,Defoe,Swift,Rubens,Bach,Byron,Pascal,FlorenceNightingale,JamesJoyce…)HispositiveconclusionisthatthedecadenceofthecurrentageismerelyawatershedforanewageinwhichWesternculturewillagainflourish.Thisisheavyweighthistorywrittenwithgreatwitandverve,comparableinscopewiththeBigIdeasandBigThemeshistoryofPaulKennedy’sRiseandFalloftheGreatPowers,whichwasahugebestsellerthatwasfirst‘made’intheUS,andPaulJohnson(TheBirthoftheModern;Intellectuals;TwentiethCenturyBritain).WithBarzun’slucidandeasystyleitisalsoaveryaccesiblebookwhichwillbeeagerlydevouredbyhistoryandcultureloversalike.