All I can say is OMG I FINALLY FINISHED!!! This book is a WHOPPER of a read and it was recommended to me by a very dear family friend. This family friend has recommended many books to me over the years and it was a treat when he was able to drop this book off for me during the early months of our societal quarantine. I started this book in April which both seems like yesterday and like a lifetime ago! This book is around 800 pages, give or take a hundred additional pages for the references and notes. I’ve been reading this in the background as I couldn’t tackle it all by itself without a serious headache. I feel very accomplished that I was able to finish it but I don’t know if I volunteer for the task again anytime soon.
This tome by Barzun is truly a masterpiece of Western cultural life. I am glad that I read this book; just by reading a few pages a day I’ve learned so much more about the history of culture in the West. While I’ve always treated culture as an interesting footnote in my historical studies, Barzun shows how culture plays such a meaningful role in shaping history and the course of the world. My biggest issue with the book was that Barzun did such an excellent job of describing the first 450 years covered in his book and did such a poor job describing the most recent years that his book purported to cover. I felt that the last fifty years have been done a great injustice by Barzun. Perhaps he was writing from a spot that made him too near to something to write objectively. Barzun’s description of the last fifty years before the close of the work, 1995, was a confused diatribe against modernity. Barzun did a wonderful job of shedding light on the cultural pathways of the west before World War 1 but after his writing is disorganized and extremely critical. Perhaps in the last fifty years, our society has descended into such a state of decadence that it will collapse but I felt that Barzun didn’t do the recent past justice. I enjoyed the experience of reading Barzun’s work but would not recommend this to be consumed by the average reader.
Micki's Bakery 
Dear Micky, your tenacity and respect for history is admirable. I was thrilled to see you complete this and I thought that your critique about the last 50 years was thoughtful.
Hopefully this dedication does not go unrewarded and that you have lighter reads to enjoy during the rest of Fall. Thank you as always for your commentary.
LikeLike
I too read this Jacque Barzun’s massive overview of the cultural history of the Western Civilization during the last 500 years. It was extremely thorough and well researched (which it should be….Barzun also wrote one of the classics on researching a topic, “ The Modern Researcher,” which I read about 50 years ago and re-read recently. In a lot of ways this book was
brilliantly conceived and executed, but, I too
felt that Barzun “ran out of gas” when he got to the 20th century. I do not view the 20th century as a period of cultural decadence. In
My view our modern culture reflects the complexity of a less simple time due to vast advances in science and technology as well as a more existential mindset compared to prior centuries. Clearly Barzun was not a fan of the relativism, the lack of “manners” and the sexual boundary pushing of our modern culture. I found great value in the book overall. BTW I also recently read Barzun’s
“House of Intellect.” I need some lighter food for thought for my next read 🙂
LikeLike