Jacques Barzun’s new 900-page history of the last 500 years looks formidable on the bookshelf. But it’s a kind of history seldom seen: a “technicolor, wide-screen, multi-media epic in print of what you missed while suffering through Western Civ. 101. Here is an intellectual Dr. Seuss: ‘Oh, the Places You’ll See! The People You’ll Meet!’ – The Idler