The West - A New History of an Old Idea

*A BBC RADIO 4 Book of the Week*
''A fantastic achievement'' Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads
''Bright, expansive, and iconoclastic, this deliciously witty book has the potential to upset the applecart of "Western Civilisation" itself... Magnificent'' Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb
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A radical new account of how the idea of the West has shaped our history, told through the stories of fourteen fascinating lives.

We tend to imagine Western Civilisation as a golden thread stretching from classical antiquity to the countries of the modern Western world. But what if this is wrong?

Told through the lives of fourteen fascinating historical figures - including a formidable Roman matriarch, an unconventional Islamic scholar, an enslaved African American poetess and a British prime minister with Homeric aspirations - archaeologist and historian Nao- Mac Sweeney charts how the idea of the West was invented, how it has been us