From Dawn to Decadence

by Barzun, Jacques

• ISBN13: 9780060175863
• ISBN10: 0060175869
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-04-27
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

In this book the author synthesizes everything he has learned about art and thought, manners, morals, and religion since the Renaissance. He explains why he views the present as a time of decadence while celebrating the achievements of the great cultural creators of the past five centuries.

Author Biography

Born in France in 1907, Jacques Barzun came to the United States in 1920. After graduating from Columbia College, he joined the faculty of the university, becoming Seth Low Professor of History and, for a decade, Dean of Faculties and Provost. The author of some thirty books, he received the Gold Medal for Criticism from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, of which he was twice president

Table of Contents

Author's Note	ix
Prologue: From Current Concerns to the Subject of This Book	xiii
From Luther's Ninety-five Theses to Boyle's ``Invisible College''	1	(236)
From the Bog and Sand of Versailles to the Tennis Court	237	(226)
From Faust, Part I, to the ``Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2''	463	(218)
From ``The Great Illusion'' to ``Western Civ Has Got to Go''	681	(122)
Reference Notes	803	(26)
Index of Persons	829	(24)
Index of Subjects	853