FROM DAWN TO DECADENCE 500 Years of Western Cultural Life

The fast-paced reader provides a stimulating experience for listeners interested in an expert's view of history from unusual and clever angles. Forty-plus hours of history could be overly pedantic, but it's not. Sparing us boring chronicles of events, the author and narrator animate five hundred years of Western civilization. Edward Lewis's deadpan approach to the occasional humor will amuse intellectuals. One has no trouble hearing or understanding the narrator, but his undecorated style of reading might displease those wanting more expression. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 01]