How the World Made the West

A 4,000 Year History

By: Josephine Quinn

Narrated by: Alix Dunmore

An award-winning Cambridge history professor “makes a forceful argument and tells a story with great verve” (The Wall Street Journal)—that the West is, and always has been, truly global.

“Those archaic ‘Western Civ’ classes so many of us took in college should be updated, argues Quinn, [who] invites us to . . . revel in a richer, more polyglot inheritance.”—The Boston Globe

AN ECONOMIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • LONGLISTED FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE

In How the World Made the West, Josephine Quinn poses perhaps the most significant challenge ever to the “civilizational thinking” regarding the origins of Western culture—that is, the idea that civilizations arose separately and distinctly from one another. Rather, she locates the roots of the modern West in everything from the law codes of Babylon, Assyrian irrigation, and the Phoenician art of sail to Indian literature, Arabic scholarship, and the metalworking riders of the Steppe, to name just a few examples.

According to Quinn, reducing the backstory of the modern West to a narrative that focuses on Greece and Rome impoverishes our view of the past. This understanding of history would have made no sense to the ancient Greeks and Romans themselves, who understood and discussed their own connections to and borrowings from others. They consistently presented their own culture as the result of contact and exchange. Quinn builds on the writings they left behind with rich analyses of other ancient literary sources like the epic of Gilgamesh, holy texts, and newly discovered records revealing details of everyday life. A work of breathtaking scholarship, How the World Made the West also draws on the material culture of the times in art and artifacts as well as findings from the latest scientific advances in carbon dating and human genetics to thoroughly debunk the myth of the modern West as a self-made miracle.

In lively prose and with bracing clarity, How the World Made the West challenges the stories the West continues to tell about itself. It redefines our understanding of the Western self and civilization in the cosmopolitan world of today.

Interesting World History Stressing how Connected Europe, Asia, and Africa have Always Been

Since I know very little Ancient history, the fact that Quinn has written this book to debunk the Western view that European civilization developed in isolation doesn’t really interest me. The rest of the book, where she is talking about how knowledge spread from Africa and Asia to Europe is well told and engrossing.

Middling

There are problems with this book and production. Production/narration wise there is no reason to (selectively it would appear) to read academic footnotes which interrupts the narrative flow of the book.

The content itself is interesting, However the author’s overarching attempts to condemn “civilizational thinking,” feels at best forced and lends itself to a plot line where anecdotes are seemingly cherry-picked to fit that agenda rather than the most important considerations of the time.

Great read

How the World Made the West by Josephine Quinn is an excellent and thought-provoking journey through 4,000 years of history. Quinn masterfully presents a broad and engaging narrative that traces the key influences that shaped Western civilization, making this book both informative and captivating for history enthusiasts.

However, as is often the case in works like this, there is a noticeable lack of focus on African civilizations. This omission is perhaps due to the scarcity of surviving historical records, but it remains a gap worth acknowledging. While African contributions to global history are significant, they are not thoroughly explored here.

That said, Quinn’s book is outstanding in every other respect, providing a sweeping view of cultural, political, and intellectual exchanges that defined the Western world. Her insights are clear, well-researched, and accessible. I would highly recommend How the World Made the West to anyone interested in understanding the forces that shaped our world today.

Delightfully misleading title

Judging by the title, I thought this was going to be a book on intellectual history. But it is mostly a story of interconnectedness between cultures, from the Bronze Age to early Middle Ages, focused largely on archeology. Wonderful book, had a blast.

please don't read footnotes

I listen to a lot of history on audible - but rarely hear the foot notes read aloud. definitely unnecessary and annoying. I