The West: A New History of an Old Idea

Does Western civilization really stretch back from modernity through the Enlightenment to the classical glories of Greece and Rome? We learn this story of Western history at school and take it for granted, but is it true?

In this bold, story-driven retelling of global history, prize-winning historian Naoise Mac Sweeny debunks the myths and origin stories that underpin the history we thought we knew. Told through nine fascinating figures who each played a role in the creation of the Western idea -- from Herodotus a mixed-race refugee, to Mary Fisher, the Yorkshire housemaid who charmed an Ottoman sultan, and from Gladstone, with his 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. 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.

As a new world order emerges from the shocks of pandemics and populism, to chart a future for the West we must properly understand its past.