From Dawn to Decadence: 1500 to the Present : 500 Years of Western Cultural Life (Jacques Barzun, 2000)

How useful did I find this book? I actually went out and bought a hardcover copy for myself. (My usual approach is to borrow books from the library; I have a list of those I want to own, but too seldom find the motivation to start purchasing. Not the case here.)

The value proposition for Barzun's work is simple in my case. I read as much as I can; I also try to learn about as much classical music as possible, and (to a much lesser extent) art (typically meaning paintings). Opera and "plays" remain mostly mysteries to me. On all fronts, I don't have a very organized way of identifying items I'll read or view. On top of that, I have trouble remembering what I've read or seen.

Enter Barzun.

He is a fascinating character in his own right. He was class valedictorian at Columbia in 1927 (born in France, the book includes his recollection of Paris being shelled by "Big Bertha" German gunnery). He finished this book when he was well over 90 years old. By that time, he had spent what - seven decades? - learning, teaching, writing at a very high level. It's hard to imagine the insights that would accumulate in that setting over that extended period of time - and that he would have the energy so late in life to put together a volume like this.


The book is a delight. Incredibly economical with the language - how else could one even try to take on a 500-year period across multiple disciplines in one book of manageable size? I slowed down and read pretty much every word, often working backward in the book. (This approach (along with a too-busy work schedule for the first half of 2010) is reflected in the slowed pace of my reading recently.)

Just an example - he spent about six pages working around World War I - and left me with an entirely different sense of how the world was affected (i.e. the changed outlook for those who survived). Most of my WWI reading has focused on particular battles, the experience of the soldiers, how the war started, etc. This was different.

He uses the term "decadence" to describe the current state of affairs - but not in as gloomy a sense as the word might suggest. Very cogent observations about the effect of the welfare state (which he (like many others) traces to 1870s Prussia), the media, etc.

I will refer to this regularly. I need to read more of his stuff.