Let's look at the last 500 years.

There is a general concensus among historians that the Modern Era begins about 1500.

The emphasis is on what is called a Cultural History. This provides a criterion for deciding what to include and exclude. Events that have a bearing on culture are selected over those that, although they may be striking (eg. a war or battle), had little impact on the general culture. (art and thought, manners, morals and religion, and the social setting). Science is not mentioned.

Barzun identifies 4 great revolutions during the last 500 years in the West: (This is not a world history, but a history of the West).

1. religious
2. monarchial
3. liberal
4. social

In reading any historical book, it is important to identify the people and events that the author has selected, and perhaps those he has omitted.

Included:

• Martin Luther (began the Protestant Reformation)
• Erasmus
• John Calvin (began a second protestant sect)
• John Knox (Calvinist in Scotland)
• Ignacio de Loyola (founded the Jesuit Order of Catholicism)
• Petrarch (early humanist) [1300's -

Major themes:

• Primitivism (a desire to reject the complex and return to a simpler era)
• Individualism
• Emancipation (freedom to determine one's own future)
• Humanism

Events:

• Protestant Reformation
• Catholic Counter-Reformation

Notable Quotations:

"... in the West the culture of the last 500 years is ending." [ix]

"There is nothing personal about facts, but there is about choosing and grouping them." [xi]

"There are as few [specific] dates as possible, because persons, works, and events do not modify culture the moment they enter it" [xi]

"A good many of these books [references] are not of recent date, which does not make them any less informative and pleasant to read. It is a false analogy with science that makes one think latest is best." [xi]

"... the deadlocks of our time: for and against nationalism, for and agains individualism, for and against the high arts, for and against strict morals and religious belief". [xv]

Links to the Chapters: