From Dawn to Decadence_图书大全
From Dawn to Decadence
副标题: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present
ISBN: 9780060928834
出版社: Harper Perennial
出版年: 2001-05-01
页数: 912
定价: USD 20.00
装帧: Paperback
内容简介
Highly regarded here and abroad for some thirty works of cultural history and criticism, master historian Jacques Barzun has now set down in one continuous narrative the sum of his discoveries and conclusions about the whole of Western culture since 1500. In this account, Barzun describes what Western Man wrought from the Renaisance and Reformation down to the present in the double light of its own time and our pressing concerns. He introduces characters and incidents with his unusual literary style and grace, bringing to the fore those that have "Puritans as Democrats," "The Monarch's Revolution," "The Artist Prophet and Jester" -- show the recurrent role of great themes throughout the eras. The triumphs and defeats of five hundred years form an inspiring saga that modifies the current impression of one long tale of oppression by white European males. Women and their deeds are prominent, and freedom (even in sexual matters) is not an invention of the last decades. And when Barzun rates the present not as a culmination but a decline, he is in no way a prophet of doom. Instead, he shows decadence as the creative novelty that will burst forth -- tomorrow or the next day. Only after a lifetime of separate studies covering a broad territory could a writer create with such ease the synthesis displayed in this magnificent volume.
作者简介
雅克·巴尔赞（Jacques Barzun）
◎美国“国宝级历史学家”；
◎50年来罕见登上《时代》周刊封面的思想家；
◎获法国政府颁授的最高荣誉——“荣誉军团勋章”；
◎2003年，获小布什颁授的“总统自由勋章”；
◎2010年，获奥巴马颁授的“国家人文勋章”。
美国著名史学大师，文化史研究的奠基人之一。1907年生于法国，1920年随父抵美，进入哥伦比亚大学研读历史与法律。毕业后即留校执教，历任塞思?洛历史学教授、教务长和院长。他是英国皇家艺术学会会员，并且曾两度担任美国艺术和文学学会主席。他一生致力于通过推行大学“通识教育”把欧洲的博雅文化传统引入美国，对推动美国现代的“通识教育”贡献极大。
巴尔赞在众多领域堪称权威，一生著作等身，出版有30余部著作，涉猎的内容可谓包罗万象，包括历史学、哲学、科学、文学、音乐、艺术；他曾两度荣获美国艺术和文学学会批评家金奖；也因博学多才以及那种文艺复兴时期知识分子特有的禀赋，被赞誉为“最后的文艺复兴人”。
巴尔赞并不是一位纯粹的学院知识分子。他积极参与美国的公共知识生活，长期为《哈泼斯》、《新共和》等众多权威杂志撰稿 ，是西方公认的“最值得珍惜的知识分子”。直至今天，他对文化、思想、艺术、社会的诸多思考，仍起着深远而不可替代的影响。
2012年，巴尔赞在美国得克萨斯州去世，享年104岁。全世界各大媒体纷纷发表消息和评论，竞相发掘他留给后人的无尽精神遗产。
