In the last half-millennium, great revolutions have swept the Western world. Each has brought profound change. And each is too little studied or appreciated today. To leaf through this sweeping, densely detailed but lightly written survey of the last 500 years is to ride a whirlwind of world-changing events. A book of enormous riches, it's sprinkled with provocations. 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. 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. I just picked up a copy today. From the perspective of several dozen pages into it, its not only a good book, but a pleasurable read. Barzun writes in a conversational style that's easy to parse at a healthy clip. From Dawn to Decadence | 
