Much of world history is presented from the traditional classical narrative of civilization beginning in the fertile valleys of the middle east, to Greek creation of governments and many other ideals to the mighty conquering Rome. Josephine Quinn's How the World Made the West turns this conventional thinking on its head, instead arguing and demonstrating how humans have always been far more interconnected and full of exchange than the civilization/empire narrative suggests.

Divided into thirty chapters, Quinn covers 4000 years of history from ancient Byblos to the dawn of European colonialism. With this wide range of time, Quinn switches topics and discussions frequently, almost always working from the lesser known perspective or losing side of history. As it frequently digresses from the well known narrative, familiarity with Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greek and Roman history will be highly beneficial.

Of growing importance and usage are modern scientific testing methods that can add to our understanding of a region by being able to trace the origins of metals or even the bodily remains that can provide information about diets and water consumed in life.

Recommended to readers of history, world history or archaeology.

Interesting set up and focus, but just read pretty dull. I liked chapter four the best, but each chapter felt like it took awhile to get through. Not sure I bought into the author's overall thesis.

This book reminds me of The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan - both in style, scope, and the stir it has already caused in the reading community. The author, a renowned history professor, offers a fresh look at antiquity, finding surprising connections between different ancient civilizations and redefining what even the term "civilization" means. She makes a compelling and inspiring case. Highly recommended for all history buffs.

Thanks to the publisher, Random House, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

A perspective-shifting read! I’d recommend this book to anyone who grew up thinking that the West came to “rule the world” due to intrinsic superiority. It’s an excellent retelling of world history. If you like Peter Frankopan’s work (and I adore PF), this book is for you.

How The World Made The West by Josephine Quinn, from tablets found in Mesopotamia to revelations from dark Africa and even in to China the book covers a history not often seen when talking about the west and its influences. They had those who roamed before settling in becoming farmers to those who roamed to travel and see parts of the world they never seen from finding new kingdoms to new technology this book has so much in it and I found it also interesting. There’s no way I could give a concise summary because there’s just too much greatness in the book I think Josephine Quinn really knows her subject and it is evident throughout this great research book. In one chapter towards the end there’s the even a plague that swept through India and parts of Africa end it was long before the black plague just proof of life has been going on longer than some of us would like to admit. I have read many books on the ancient world into modern day but found the author did a great job putting together a more concise latter of evolution this book had so much I’ve never read anywhere else and I read constantly every day so kudos to her for this great entertaining read that I definitely recommend.#NetGalley, #RandomHouse, #JosephineQuinn, #HowTheWorldMadeTheWest,

This book is a great resource if you are looking to learn about western civilization. The author is very thorough but at the same time writes in such a way that the topic is easy to understand and follow. Given the enormity of the topic it would be easy to turn this into a more academic and scholarly book. This author doesn't do that which makes this book more accessible to a wider audience. There are several helpful maps included throughout the book.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

How the World Made the West by Josephine Quinn is a nonfiction exploring how the idea of culture and Western society came to be from 2000 BCE to the fifteenth century CE. With examinations of who we now call ‘the Greeks’, the people of the Roman Empire, Carthage, Mesopotamia, the Minoans, Phoenicians, and more, Quinn is asking their readers to examine how we look at ethnicity and culture as boundaries and to reconsider how we create a Western sphere and an Eastern sphere as if these cultures sprung out of the ground instead of constant intermingling over centuries.

I thought the most interesting piece of evidence presented was that the Phoenicians did not consider themselves to be a group from one country, but were instead a group of groups of people who identified more with their hometown and their families. It was the ancient Greeks who called them ‘Phoencians,’ which leads into the idea that the us vs them mentality has led to how we look at culture now. Quinn doesn’t really go into how this connects to today and how these boundaries do matter because of the horrific damage they have done throughout history, but I appreciate the look into how they didn’t have to matter.

The other thing I liked was how the book goes into how not only the ancient Greeks view other people but how other people viewed the Greeks. It shines a light on how different groups were a lot more fluid when it came to who was part of the in-group while also highlighting calling other peoples ‘barbarians’ and civilized. A lot of the stories that we now consider to be Greek have shared elements with other stories around the Mediterranean, which indicates a shared cultural history that exists due to migration and intermarriage and more.

One thing that shocked me was how many countries the Roman Empire made contact with (Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam) and how early (first century CE). Even if it was only a few goods, like pottery, that still tells us that our world has been far more connected than we often give it credit. Another thing was Vikings going all the way to Southwest Asia via river channels. I had never considered that before as even a possibility because I associate Vikings so strongly with sailing on the ocean or seas.

I would recommend this to fans of nonfiction asking questions about how we got to where we are now and readers looking for a book more focused on the history of the Mediterranean.

Through analysis of ancient texts, artifacts, and scientific evidence, this book challenges the traditional narrative of Western civilization. Rather than a uniquely Greek and Roman phenomenon, the book shows how ancient cultures from Mesopotamia to India contributed to the foundation of Western thought, technology, and culture.

This book is informative and fun to read—I was sorry when it ended. It does a good job of showing the many different influences that led to the rise of Western culture.

Thanks, NetGalley for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I enjoyed this book. The information is clearly presented and the writing fluid, although a little more literary than I usually prefer. The maps are excellent and really help tell the story. Josephine Quinn also uses humour to good advantage. The pacing is excellent and the book never gets bogged down in minutiae. I found this book well worth reading. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the advance reader copy.

This book should really be called how the Mediterranean made the West. It focuses on the familiar Levantine civilizations along with Greece and a little on Egypt. But the rest of Africa, Asia, and the Americas are absent.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an advance copy of this history book that looks at how the innovations, ideas, and the thinking of many different peoples and cultures formed the basis of what has been called western civilization.

In twelve years of schooling, my history education always seemed to cover the same subjects. Greek and Roman history up to maybe World War Two. Maybe some prehistory, maybe something on Kennedy, but most of it was a fixed timeline. This to that, and repeat. I don't remember anything about Russia, maybe the revolution, nothing about Japan, China, maybe something about Vietnam, but just in passing. Africa, well yes, but not the country, just slavery, and nothing more. So the thinking of most people is centered on the West. Again there might be passing discussion on where the idea of writing was created, but that wasn't really studied either. Greeks and Romans set the table that we have ate at for so long, However once a person starts to look questions begin to come up. A lot of questions. Josephine Quinn, in the book How the World Made the West: A 4,000 Year History seeks to not only these questions, but posits many more, along with plenty off interesting facts, and shows the importance that the world had in the creation of what we call the west.

There is an interesting section that from the book that I will paraphrase. Quinn discusses how many were content to start farms, work in communities, and stay within a small area, maybe going to an occasional fair to buy or sell things. Others were not content with being stationary. They would walk, ride and sail to far places, talk about trade, makes some trades, learn new things, and share what they knew, and what they had found. To me this is a powerful idea, and one that explains quite a bit. Quinn has another section where Quinn mentions, one could find a better way to do something, but one had to have an ability to share this knowledge, to show and teach. This is how things came to be. The book is mostly centered around an area of the Mediterranean where many of these teachers, and wanders made their way, sharing and trading what they learned. Boat design, crop rotation and ideas on animal husbandry. Written language, started by traders to keep track of goods, which became something more. All of this from all around the world was gathered, collected and shared, and let to the growth of the west.

A history book that raises a lot of questions, and yet is written so well one learns much from the questions as one learns from the answers. Quinn has been teaching for quite a while and is comfortable discussion the subject matter, which makes for writing that flows well, and never bogs down. I enjoyed the writing and loved when there were moments that made me go, oh I get that, that's interesting. Much of the book is spent in the early days, buy Quinn does cover the other eras.

A well written history that might not be for everyone, but one that I enjoyed quite a bit. The writing is very good, as are the ideas. Perfect for readers of history,and want to get a jump on big books before winter.

This is an engaging overview of overlooked ancient history with a lot of aha moments to the present day. It will be enjoyed by people who love history and prefer a broad approach. #netgalley #randomhouse

I had heard about this title and had been looking forward to this one. Thank you to Random House publishing for the ARC.

This is an interesting take on history and how the West was influenced not just by 1-2 ancient civilizations but by many. There are some broad stroke assertions which are probably a given considering the scope of the topic.

Overall, a good read.

How the World Made the West is a book with a number of layers to it.

The first is as an a history of Europe from 2000 BCE to 1500 CE. Many people reading this will be limited to an exposure to that in the form of a class titled 'Western Civ' some time in secondary school. But History Marches On, as new discoveries are made and old ones reassessed. It is great, and worth it for the citations alone in compiling the most current work on a broad topic.

The second is a critique on the concept of 'Western' as a coherent thing. The author's position can be summed up as: people, not peoples; civilization, not civilizations. The cultures, cities, and nations that are now considered the West would not think of themselves so, and the author believes that they would find the idea itself confusing and contradictory to their beliefs. Identity is local and, above all else, flexible. Western Civilization is an invention of the 19th century, arising as to justify colonial ambitions, and even a concept like multi-culturalism is flawed.

The third is as polemic, and it is bad as polemic. I was reminded the most of <i>The Daily Wire</i> and the pressing need to dunk on the other side even if it harms the argument itself. Reasonable facts get aggravating conjecture tacked on as dicta. Events are told to accomplish effects that make them misleading. Most irritating is the futzing around with language, where the author uses idiosyncratic definitions or redefines terms. Socrates was killed for that sort of thing is all I am saying.

The first layer makes this a great book. It is probably the most useful history book that I will read this year. The third layer is a problem. I had to stop reading at points out of irritation. I am willing to mark that down as white fragility, but usually it looked like me slamming into paywalls for hours of my life as I tried to substantiate claims, which almost always lead to finding out that they were mostly accurate, it was the weasely bit that was stated as conjecture. But look, if this is what shakes up your paradigm so that you are more in line with modern historical consensus, I am glad. I feel though it probably is going to elicit an audience of who problem.

The second layer...the second layer is the topic that I see most published reviews focusing upon. Here is the thing about that layer: the argument for it stops. It will pop back in, usually on what some specific person did or thought, but from about the description of the Hellenistic period onward it stops, and the book becomes a much more principalities and powers sort of history. Some sections, the collapse of the Roman empire, both east and west for instance, feel downright historically conservative in their presentations. I found myself bouncing between the first and last chapter, trying to triangulate what was going on.

Outside of how everyone seems to forget about the Hellenistic period (shout out to The Hellenistic Age Podcast</a> for pushing back at this), I think that there is something meaningful in the switch starting there. To take a very short go at it, I think that the idea of Western Civilization is of recent imagining, but the question of it, the idea of thinking about it, in and outside of Europe, is an old idea. And I can see why the author might not want to touch that, in the interest of not pulling her punches.

So, if the book had continued in the manner that it started, I would call it skippable. You will learn something but it is more a handbook in how to ruin Thanksgiving. However, its transition away from that to something blander makes it more useful. It does become a strong overview, intentionally broad, still occasionally misleading, but well sourced and well written. It is a good effort in this sort of modern historical reckoning. I am still waiting for someone to write what I think of as the definiative popular history to do it, though.

My thanks to the author, Josephine Quinn, for writing the book, and to the publisher, Random House Publishing, for making the ARC available to me.

I loved this book. I love reading about history and ancient cultures and this book is exactly what I wanted. i love Quinn's connection between different ancient worlds and how they connect with the modern world. If you are a history junkie like me especially when it comes to the ancient world this book is a must read for you