Description

Book Synopsis

Ancient Greece and Rome have long been considered the parents of Western civilisation. But the ancient world was a very wide one, of conversation, commerce and theft, sex, war and enslavement. It was this restless global contact that built the West.

Why did Macedonian generals steal elephants from India to rule new realms? How did the lewd graffiti left by foreign workers in Egypt form the basis of the alphabet? In a voyage through space and time, from the Levant of 2000 BC to the dawn of the Age of Exploration, Josephine Quinn rewrites the story of the West and in doing so, offers us a new history of our shared past.

A truly encyclopaedic and monumental account of the ancient world' The Times
Full of little gem-likes shifts of perspective' Guardian
Scintillates with its focus on the unexpected' Economist
A work of great confidence, empathy, learning and imagination' Rory Stewart
This is, in every way, a big book' TLS

How the World Made the West

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    A Paperback by Josephine Quinn

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      Book details

      Publisher Bloomsbury
      Imprint Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
      Published 1/30/2025
      ISBN-13 9781526605221
      978-1526605221
      ISBN-10 1526605228

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Ancient Greece and Rome have long been considered the parents of Western civilisation. But the ancient world was a very wide one, of conversation, commerce and theft, sex, war and enslavement. It was this restless global contact that built the West.

      Why did Macedonian generals steal elephants from India to rule new realms? How did the lewd graffiti left by foreign workers in Egypt form the basis of the alphabet? In a voyage through space and time, from the Levant of 2000 BC to the dawn of the Age of Exploration, Josephine Quinn rewrites the story of the West and in doing so, offers us a new history of our shared past.

      A truly encyclopaedic and monumental account of the ancient world' The Times
      Full of little gem-likes shifts of perspective' Guardian
      Scintillates with its focus on the unexpected' Economist
      A work of great confidence, empathy, learning and imagination' Rory Stewart
      This is, in every way, a big book' TLS

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