The West
- Author Naoíse Mac Sweeney
- Narrator Shaheen Khan
- Publisher Ebury Publishing
- Publish Date 27 April 2023
- Run Time 14 hours and 9 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Comparative politics, History, History of ideas, Philosophical traditions and schools of thought, Politics and government, Social and cultural history, Society and Social Sciences.
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What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
*A BBC RADIO 4 Book of the Week*
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 Naoíse Mac Sweeney charts how the idea of the West was invented, how it has been used to justify imperialism and racism, and why it is no longer ideologically fit for purpose today.
The result is a bold and empowering new story of the people and ideas who made us who we are today.
'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
©2023 Naoíse Mac Sweeney (P)2023 Penguin Audio
Critics Review
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
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