Most Popular Books by Jacques Barzun

INSTRUCTIVE MANUAL ON HOW TO GATHER AND ORGANIZE FACTS.

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.

In this international bestseller, originally published in 1959, Jacques Barzun, acclaimed author of From Dawn to Decadence, takes on the whole intellectual -- or pseudo-intellectual -- world, attacking it for its betrayal of Intellect. "Intellect is despised and neglected," Barzun says, "yet intellectuals are well paid and riding high." He details this great betrayal in such areas as public administrations, communications, conversation and home life, education, business, and scholarship. In this edition''s new Preface, Jacques Barzun discussess the intense -- and controversial -- reaction the world had to The House of Intellect.

With this book, Jacques Barzun pays what he describes as an "intellectual debt" to William James-psychologist, philosopher, and, for Barzun, guide and mentor. Commenting on James''s life, thought, and legacy, Barzun leaves us with a wise and civilized distillation of the great thinker''s work.

Drawing from the works of influential figures in art and literature, the author traces the development of romanticism from classicism and the emergence of the modern ego.

Throughout his career Jacques Barzun, author of the New York Times bestseller and National Book Award Finalist From Dawn to Decadence, has always been known as a witty and graceful essayist, one who combines a depth of knowledge and a rare facility with words. Now Michael Murray has carefully selected eighty of Barzun''s most inventive, accomplished, and insightful essays, and compiled them in one impressive volume. With subjects ranging from history to baseball to crime novels, A Jacques Barzun Reader is a feast for any reader.

A fter a lifetime of writing and editing prose, Jacques Barzun has set down his view of the best ways to improve one''s style. His discussions of diction, syntax, tone, meaning, composition, and revision guide the reader through the technique of making the written word clear and agreeable to read. Exercises, model passages both literary and casual, and hundreds of amusing examples of usage gone wrong show how to choose the right path to self-expression in forceful and distinctive words.

Philosophical treatise on social, political and intellectual freedom.

The spreading vogue of psycho-history and what the author has christened "quanto-history" raises fundamental questions of theory and practice about both history and the new methods applied to it. In this work Jacques Barzun presents his credo as a historian, criticizing the "new" techniques and contrasting them with his idea of the true spirit of historical inquiry. --Book jacket.

"The old plan and purpose of teaching the young what they truly need to know survives only in the private sector."--Jacques BarzunWith his customary wit and grace, Dr. Barzun contrasts the ritual of education with the lost art of teaching. Twenty-one chapters deal with three major issues: the practice of teaching, the subject matter to be taught, and the institutional and cultural aspects of teaching.Jacques Barzun is a renowned scholar, teacher, and author who lectures widely since his retirement in 1993.

This collection of writings allows the reader a rare opportunity to see Barzun''s lively, engaging, rich, and original mind at work on several strategic areas of cultural inquiry: music and the musical life, esthetics, biography, criticism, and social commentary. Barzun makes use of a variety of contexts as a forum for evidence and opinion, including essays, program notes, letters, and reviews. And he approaches a wide variety of particular and general questions. What is it like to sit in on a recording session with a great orchestra? What is the role of the piano in Western culture? What is art in relation to objective reality and to the perceiving mind? Can one translate music into words? What is cultural history? For anyone unfamiliar with Barzun''s work, Critical Questions will serve as a valuable introduction to one of the most important cultural historians of our time. Others will be glad to have these pieces—most of them no longer easily available—brought together in a single volume. Uniformly insightful, provocative, and a pleasure to read, they show the consistency of Barzun''s thought even as they exhibit diversity.

The title of this collection of short essays on language and correct usage by one of America''s eminent scholars is from Othello''s last soliloquy. Most of these pieces appeared previously, primarily in American Scholar, The Atlantic and Columbia magazines, which Barzun has revised for consistency and timeliness and added material to balance the book. Among his themes are vigilance against corruption of English by technocrats, and "media hacks", the importance of precise expression; and appreciation for rich heritage of English language. Includes a selected bibliogrpahy of other essays on language by the author. ISBN 0-8195-5174-0 : $14.95.

In this abridgment of his monumental study, Berlioz and the Romantic Century, Jacques Barzun recounts the events and extraordinary achievements of the great composer''s life against the background of the romantic era. As the author eloquently demonstrates, Berloiz was an archetype whose destiny was the story of an age, the incarnation of an artistic style and a historical spirit. "In order to understand the nineteenth century, it is essential to understand Berlioz," notes W. H. Auden, "and in order to understand Berlioz, it is essential to read Professor Barzun."