Jacques Martin Barzun (1907-2012) was a leading American historian of ideas and culture. The author of over 30 books, at the age of 84 he began writing From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present, which was lauded by historians, literary critics, and popular reviewers alike as a sweeping and powerful, albeit idiosyncratic, survey of modern Western history.
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MAY 26, 1986 • Article
Morgenthau Lecture: Is Democratic Theory for Export?
Jacques Barzun argues that democracy is a historical development peculiar to the political context in which it developed. Attempts to export it will surely fail.