Description
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
'One of the most fascinating and important works of global history to appear for many years' (William Dalrymple), this epic debut from Josephine Quinn rewrites the story of the Western world.
About the Author
Josephine Quinn is Professor of Ancient History at Oxford University, and Martin Frederiksen Fellow and Tutor of Ancient History at Worcester College, Oxford. She has degrees from Oxford and UC Berkeley, has taught in America, Italy and the UK, and co-directed the Tunisian-British archaeological excavations at Utica. She is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books, as well as to radio and television programmes. Quinn has been elected as the first woman to hold the Professorship of Ancient History at the University of Cambridge and will join the Faculty in 2025.
Reviews
A revelatory account of how the ancient world was much wider and more interconnected than traditionally thought - and the lessons that holds for today -- What to Read in 2024 * Financial Times *
Astounding . . . Both erudite and witty, sweeping and granular, this book is revisionist history at its best * i-news *
Quinn keeps the revelations coming at a fair lick . . . In 400 crisp pages, 30 societies are paraded before us with comparative reflection and world-weary wit. Better still, Quinn's book is polemical -- Pratinav Anil * The Times *
One of the most fascinating and important works of global history to appear for many years -- WILLIAM DALRYMPLE
Bold, beautifully written and filled with insights, How the World Made the West demands that we challenge traditional views of the past. An extraordinary achievement -- PETER FRANKOPAN
How the World Made the West has plenty of myths about the ancient world to dispel . . . The vicissitudes in each centre's fortunes make for a dynamic narrative, as cities that were once great are swept away, and new ones spring up in their wake -- Daisy Dunn * Telegraph *
An eye-popping, mind-blowing, ground-breaking juggernaut of an argument, from a writer ready to roar -- LUCY WORSLEY
Erudite, inventive, playful - a work of great confidence, empathy, learning and imagination -- RORY STEWART
No one but Josephine Quinn could have written a book like this - a book of enormous erudition and curiosity; a book that teaches you something new on almost every page. With a sense of growing political urgency, How the World Made the West reveals the folly of civilisational thinking. In its place, Quinn traces the many entangled paths of art, commerce, religion, and language, forging a deeper and truer understanding of our common world -- MERVE EMRE
A masterpiece that gives us a new lens to understand 4,000 years of history -- OLIVETTE OTELE
This book - full of memorable stories - is nothing less than a reorientation of the history of "the West." Josephine Quinn persuasively shows that the mingling of cultures through trade and migration is as old as civilisation itself, breaking down the hackneyed idea of the uniqueness of the Greco-Roman world . . . This is a book to unite us in divided times -- SIR JONATHAN BATE
Josephine Quinn is one of the few scholars writing today who could possibly present such a masterful sweeping overview as an accessible and compelling story . . . A marvelous, majestic book. This will be an instant classic -- ERIC CLINE
Jo Quinn gives us a fascinating insight into the entanglements that have driven change in our collective past: the journeys, meetings, relationships and exchanges that, more than anything else, have helped shape our world today. It is a brilliant reminder that our human story is - and always will be - empty if we don't acknowledge the ways in which we have constantly interacted with, and depended on, one another -- MICHAEL SCOTT
Book Information
ISBN 9781526605221
Author Josephine Quinn
Format Paperback
Page Count 576
Imprint Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
'One of the most fascinating and important works of global history to appear for many years' (William Dalrymple), this epic debut from Josephine Quinn rewrites the story of the Western world.
About the Author
Josephine Quinn is Professor of Ancient History at Oxford University, and Martin Frederiksen Fellow and Tutor of Ancient History at Worcester College, Oxford. She has degrees from Oxford and UC Berkeley, has taught in America, Italy and the UK, and co-directed the Tunisian-British archaeological excavations at Utica. She is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books, as well as to radio and television programmes. Quinn has been elected as the first woman to hold the Professorship of Ancient History at the University of Cambridge and will join the Faculty in 2025.
Reviews
A revelatory account of how the ancient world was much wider and more interconnected than traditionally thought - and the lessons that holds for today -- What to Read in 2024 * Financial Times *
Astounding . . . Both erudite and witty, sweeping and granular, this book is revisionist history at its best * i-news *
Quinn keeps the revelations coming at a fair lick . . . In 400 crisp pages, 30 societies are paraded before us with comparative reflection and world-weary wit. Better still, Quinn's book is polemical -- Pratinav Anil * The Times *
One of the most fascinating and important works of global history to appear for many years -- WILLIAM DALRYMPLE
Bold, beautifully written and filled with insights, How the World Made the West demands that we challenge traditional views of the past. An extraordinary achievement -- PETER FRANKOPAN
How the World Made the West has plenty of myths about the ancient world to dispel . . . The vicissitudes in each centre's fortunes make for a dynamic narrative, as cities that were once great are swept away, and new ones spring up in their wake -- Daisy Dunn * Telegraph *
An eye-popping, mind-blowing, ground-breaking juggernaut of an argument, from a writer ready to roar -- LUCY WORSLEY
Erudite, inventive, playful - a work of great confidence, empathy, learning and imagination -- RORY STEWART
No one but Josephine Quinn could have written a book like this - a book of enormous erudition and curiosity; a book that teaches you something new on almost every page. With a sense of growing political urgency, How the World Made the West reveals the folly of civilisational thinking. In its place, Quinn traces the many entangled paths of art, commerce, religion, and language, forging a deeper and truer understanding of our common world -- MERVE EMRE
A masterpiece that gives us a new lens to understand 4,000 years of history -- OLIVETTE OTELE
This book - full of memorable stories - is nothing less than a reorientation of the history of "the West." Josephine Quinn persuasively shows that the mingling of cultures through trade and migration is as old as civilisation itself, breaking down the hackneyed idea of the uniqueness of the Greco-Roman world . . . This is a book to unite us in divided times -- SIR JONATHAN BATE
Josephine Quinn is one of the few scholars writing today who could possibly present such a masterful sweeping overview as an accessible and compelling story . . . A marvelous, majestic book. This will be an instant classic -- ERIC CLINE
Jo Quinn gives us a fascinating insight into the entanglements that have driven change in our collective past: the journeys, meetings, relationships and exchanges that, more than anything else, have helped shape our world today. It is a brilliant reminder that our human story is - and always will be - empty if we don't acknowledge the ways in which we have constantly interacted with, and depended on, one another -- MICHAEL SCOTT
Book Information
ISBN 9781526605221
Author Josephine Quinn
Format Paperback
Page Count 576
Imprint Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
