"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, internationally bestselling author of
The Silk Roads
Prize-winning historian Naoíse Mac Sweeney delivers a captivating
exploration of how "Western Civilization"--the concept of a single
cultural inheritance extending from ancient Greece to modern times--is a
powerful figment of our collective imagination. An urgently needed
emergent voice in big history, she offers a bold new account of Western
history, real and imagined, through the lives of fourteen remarkable
individuals.
In this groundbreaking, story-driven retelling of Western history,
Naoíse Mac Sweeney debunks the myths and origin stories that underpin
the history we thought we knew. Told through fourteen figures who each
played a role in the creation of the Western idea--from Herodotus, a
mixed-race migrant, to Phylis Wheatley, an enslaved African American who
became a literary sensation; and from Gladstone, with a private passion
for epic poetry, to the medieval Arab scholar Al-Kindi--the subjects are
a mind-expanding blend of unsung heroes and familiar faces viewed
afresh. These characters span the millennia and the continents,
representing different religions, varying levels of wealth and
education, diverse traditions and nationalities. Each life tells us
something unexpected about the age in which it was lived and offers us a
piece of the puzzle of how the modern idea of the West developed--and
why we've misunderstood it for too long.
The concept of "the West" is present in every daily interaction you
have, from entertainment and politics to world markets and world
history. This engagingly intimate history will reshape the way you see
the world around you. At this moment of civilizational redefinition, if
we are to chart a future for the West, we must properly understand its
past.
