Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil. I thought the author did a good job of illustrating her thesis with the lives of a variety of individuals. It made the book much more readable that a straight argument from historical facts. Certainly, if you read in depth history of past civilizations, it’s clear that their conception of who they were at a particular time period is not necessarily the same as the way they are portrayed in modern history books.

I read this almost immediately after reading Humanly Possible by Sarah Bakewell - a history of 700 years of mostly "Western" humanism - and I couldn't imagine a better pairing. At first I thought The West would be a useful corrective to Humanly Possible which largely embraces the "Western" tradition, but it turns out these two books are complementary in that both honor the processes of self-criticism and disputation of received wisdom that are among the best aspects of that tradition. The West is an awe-inspiring book. The established narrative of Western Civilization has cast its shadow across our collective histories for centuries, without challenge, yet here Mac Sweeney probes at the very core of the issue, revealing its shaky foundations. Deeply researched, wonderfully well written and immensely thought-provoking, this is an important book which reshapes our understanding of the past.” —Dr Janina Ramirez, author of Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages Through the Women Written Out of It Decades of decolonisation in politics, culture and scholarship have certainly dented the notion that “the West” has driven progress across the world. But for many conservatives in politics and academia, particularly in the English-speaking world, the idea of a “western civilisation” that stretches “from Plato to Nato” remains something worth defending. Indeed the idea remains a subconscious foundation from which it can be hard to escape. Naoíse Mac Sweeney argues that “the standard narrative of Western Civilisation is so omnipresent that most of us rarely stop to think about it, and even less often to question it”. However, even then “Europe was not necessarily seen as being the sole heir to the Greco-Roman legacy. Nor was the Greco-Roman past assumed to be the only fount of European culture.” The Italians knew better. Their lives, and those of their ancestors, had been profoundly shaped by developments throughout the Mediterranean, on all three continents. Islamic culture was especially influential. Moreover, despite the book's title suggesting a "new history," it falls short in delivering a truly fresh perspective. While Mac Sweeney does introduce some novel interpretations and challenges certain long-held assumptions about the West, much of the content remains firmly rooted in well-established historical narratives. As a result, readers hoping for a truly groundbreaking analysis of the subject may be left disappointed.

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Odds are strong that you first became fully aware of the term “Western Civilization” through an introductory survey course in college or AP history in high school. And you’ve lived your life since then believing that “the West” boasts “a common origin resulting in a shared history, a shared heritage, and a shared identity” grounded in the classical era of Greece and Rome. But younger historians are now rethinking Western Civilization. Writing with great clarity, history professor Naoise Mac Sweeney challenges the origin myth in her brilliant new book, The West. Essentially, whether true or not, the book comes off as derived from 14 separate essays either written for political magazines or history journalism, then stitched together without working more on the overarching thesis.

The format of Mac Sweeney’s book (its descriptive American subtitle is A New History in Fourteen Lives) means that, despite the fascinating selection of characters, its sweep can feel uneven, skipping for example from William Gladstone to Edward Said. It is inevitable that not everything can be covered in such a large sweep, and Mac Sweeney’s breadth of knowledge and elegant style keep the book highly engaging.Recommended for historians, political scientists, sociologists, etc. - there is a lot to be gained and pondered in this offering.