The West
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  • Published: 27 April 2023
  • ISBN: 9780753559727
  • Imprint: Virgin Digital
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Narrator: Shaheen Khan
  • RRP: $26.99

The West

A New History of an Old Idea

Formats & editions
Paperback
18 Jun 2024
Hardback
2 Apr 2023
Audiobook
27 Apr 2023
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Prize-winning historian providing a radical, new account of how the idea of the west has shaped our history, told through the stories of fourteen fascinating lives, for fans of Sathnam Sanghera, Peter Frankopan and Edward Said

Many of us assume Western Civilization derives from a cultural inheritance that stretches back to classical antiquity, a golden thread that binds us from Plato to NATO.

But what if all this is wrong? What if the Western world does not have its ultimate origins in a single cultural bloodline but rather a messy bramble of ancestors and influences? What if The West is just an idea that has been invented, co-opted, and mythologised to serve different purposes through history?

As battles over privilege, identity and prejudice rock the cultural wars, it's never been more important to understand how the concept of The West came to be. This book tells a bold, empowering new story of how the idea of the West was created, how it has been used to justify imperialism and racism, and also why it's still a powerful ideological tool to understand our world.

Told through the lives of fourteen fascinating historical figures -- from a powerful Roman matriarch to an Islamic scholar, from a crusading Greek soldier to a founding father of the United States, from a slave girl in the new Americas to a British prime minister -- it casts a new light on how the West was invented, embraced, rejected and re-imagined to shape our world today.
  • Published: 27 April 2023
  • ISBN: 9780753559727
  • Imprint: Virgin Digital
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Narrator: Shaheen Khan
  • RRP: $26.99
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About the author

Naoíse Mac Sweeney

Naoíse Mac Sweeney is Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Vienna. She previously held posts at Cambridge and Leicester Universities, and has won numerous academic awards for her work on classical antiquity and myths both in the UK and the EU. Her previous book was shortlisted for major awards, and she has appeared on Thinking Allowed on BBC Radio 4 and was a reporter on BBC4's Digging for Britain TV series with Alice Roberts.

portrait photo of Naoíse Mac Sweeney

Praise for The West

Awe-inspiring... Deeply researched, wonderfully well written and immensely thought-provoking, this is an important book which reshapes our understanding of the past

Dr Janina Ramirez, betselling author of FEMINA

A book to savour ... challenges us to rethink what it means to be of the West. The writing is as accessible as the argument is pointed

Sir Lawrence Freedman, author of STRATEGY: A HISTORY

Bright, expansive, and iconoclastic, this deliciously witty book has the potential to upset the applecart of "Western Civilisation" itself ... A magnificent achievement

Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb, award-winning historian and broadcaster

Sets the record straight on the modern myth of Western Civilisation. Authoritative and impassioned, this glorious book takes us beyond prejudice and preconception to a new story about the world in which we live

Prof. Josephine Quinn, author of IN SEARCH OF THE PHOENICIANS

A bold, sweeping bird's-eye view of thousands of years of history that provides a truly global perspective of the past. A fantastic achievement

Peter Frankopan, bestselling author of THE SILK ROADS

Incredibly successful and impressive... An honest, painstaking and thrilling story that upends almost everything we think we know about the world... I cannot recommend this book more

Jared Yates Sexton, author of AMERICAN RULE and THE MIDNIGHT KINGDOM

One by one she takes on hoary old myths, explodes them with panache, and leaves us instead with a richer, fuller understanding of epochs, worldviews and fascinating individuals from the past... Lots of people will enjoy this clever and thought-provoking account

Guardian

A forceful, well-written book, in which Mac Sweeney shows her command of a vast sweep of history

Daily Telegraph

A highly readable, vigorous repudiation of the Western-centric school of history

Kirkus (starred review)

Fluent and accessible... Mac Sweeney skillfully blends analysis, erudition and anecdote

Wall Street Journal

Fascinating... Mac Sweeney's breadth of knowledge and elegant style keep the book highly engaging

Dr Christopher Kissane, Irish Times

A bracing addition to the ongoing deconstruction of the historiographical pillars of western cultural supremacy

Michael Wood, BBC History Magazine
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