Some of the figures in her gallery are well known (Herodotus, Francis Bacon), while others are more obscure.

All this is presented in fluent and accessible prose, and Ms. Mac Sweeney skillfully blends analysis, erudition and anecdote. Inevitably, in a book of this scope, there are some misfires.

One by one she takes on hoary old myths... explodes them with panache, and leaves us instead with a richer, fuller understanding of epochs, worldviews and fascinating individuals from the past.

Despite its title, The West: A new history of an old idea has little to say about the history of the idea of "the West".

Wide-ranging.

The author argues convincingly that [the Enlightenment] was a departure from Greek and Roman senses of who they were and how they fit into the world.

Though Mac Sweeney sometimes overreaches in her eagerness to skewer the idea of the West... she skillfully synthesizes a wealth of scholarship and draws vibrant character sketches. It’s a case to be reckoned with..