Jacques Barzun Summary

In the following review, Yardley offers a positive assessment of Begin Here. It is difficult to imagine a more pungent, perceptive or eloquent commentary on contemporary American education than thi... Read more

In the following review, Fowlie offers a favorable evaluation of An Essay on French Verse. No one title would be adequate to describe the contents of this small book [An Essay on French Verse]. Its... Read more

In the following review, Barlow offers a positive assessment of Begin Here. I have just spent a few very enjoyable weeks in the company of a remarkable mind; I have been reading Jacques Barzun�... Read more

In the following interview, Barzun discusses his notion of “culture” and “decadence” and the general thesis of From Dawn to Decadence. [Golo:] Your book From Dawn to Dec... Read more

In the following interview, Barzun comments on his definition of “decadence,” as elaborated in From Dawn to Decadence, and his view of current religious, geopolitical, literary, and hist... Read more

In the following review of A Stroll with William James, Kellogg concludes that Barzun's enthusiasm and erudition inspires renewed respect for James, though Barzun's “wide-ranging&... Read more

In the following review, Mallaby offers a positive assessment of From Dawn to Decadence. At 92, Jacques Barzun has earned the right to be eccentric. He serves up a book [From Dawn to Decadence] 800... Read more

In the following review, Gress offers a positive evaluation of From Dawn to Decadence. Seven decades of life, reading, learning, and experience has gone into From Dawn to Decadence, an impressively... Read more

In the following review of A Stroll with William James, Kazin discusses the development and distinctive qualities of James's philosophical thought. William James, dead these seventy-three ye... Read more

In the following excerpt, Dirda discusses Barzun's disillusionment and contempt for contemporary culture in The Culture We Deserve. Books, like marriages, are rewarding in direct proportion ... Read more

In the following positive review of The Culture We Deserve, Sisk examines the philosophical and aesthetic perspective that informs Barzun's critique of intellectual laxity, relativism, and redu... Read more

In the following review of The Culture We Deserve, Pinsker expresses sympathy for “Barzun's heartfelt, uncompromisingly idealist pronouncements,” though finds little evidence that... Read more