Jacques Barzun's "From Dawn to Decadence" has been sitting on my shelf for a long time, but I've not cracked it. Chilton Williamson gave it a good review, and he deeply respected Barzun when he studied under him at Columbia. I'll put it on my list of many books I need to pull off my shelf!
I'd not heard of Victor Hanson, but after looking up some thing about him, I was so immediately interested that I just ordered a couple of his books from abebooks, and I look forward to getting them. I also ordered a copy of Crunchy Cons, as recommended by Martin Tell -- it looks like it will be a fun read. I suspect that I may find that I am a bit of a crunchy con myself (but don't tell anyone around where I live.) :-)
A life without reading would be an unthinkable one for me and my wife. There are few things we enjoy more than sitting quietly together and reading -- occasionally interrupting the other's concentration to read some choice bit out loud.
My favorite non-fiction C.S. Lewis book is "The Discarded Image" -- a wonderful little book that is really a key to the scholarship that underlies so many of the enticing tidbits of classical and medieval literature that he scatters through his fiction -- especially his "space" trilogy, which remain my favorite of his fictional works.
The Western Civilization requirement has been dropped from every college in America (except maybe Hillsdale and St. Johns.) Barzun wrote the book at the age of 93 so people could learn the history of their own culture. He has written lots of other stuff, like "The House of Intellect" back in 1959. I didn't realize that the curriculum in universities was in collapse even back then until I read his book.
Victor Hanson has a website that you might want to look at. He writes articles for several publications like National Review and posts them there. He is now a fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford, and I think he has stopped teaching so he can devote his time to writing.
My favorite non-fiction C.S. Lewis book is "The Discarded Image"
My goal is to read everything he has written. I am working on it.
Enjoy your reading.
I recently finished "The Discarded Image." It was much more readable than I feared. The main point I carried away was that Medieval man was willing to admit that his conceptions of the universe were a theory, while the modern scientist insists that his facts are true. A good example is evolution. Try calling evolution a "theory" (even here on FR) and see the angry reaction from those who consider themselves scientists.
I have read most of C.S. Lewis, even some of his letters and diary, but I have not been able to make it through "The Allegory of Love." It's pretty deep, at least to me.
My current reading consists of books about small scale farming (my spiritual adviser counseled against continuing to read the Philokalia or other patristic works - at least for now). I am considering moving a small distance from the city - maybe trying a hobby farm. Time to put some Agrarian principles into action! My wife is all for it, but the kids are not.