The book is rich in marvellous detail, and succeeds in making the pre-classical world come to life. There is something of the modern wheedling teenager in the complaining minor royal who ends a letter to the king of Egypt with the line “Send me much gold”. This is one of the “Amarna” letters between the monarchs of Egypt, Cyprus, Babylon et al, which Quinn says “reveal the importance of contact and communication between what are usually seen as separate ancient cultures or civilisations”.

A new perspective on history and how many of the assumptions Western-centred history is based on ignoring many of the facts and the interconnectedness of cultures well before Greek and Roman "civilisation" came into being. There was far more interconnectedness than we've been led to believe between the different peoples and cultures.
It is a very detailed account with plenty of information that would be very interesting to historians and people looking to learn more. I can see how this would inspire readers to start digging in more detail into ancient history, although it is a book that needs to be read slowly: it moves beyond easy anecdotes and history as entertainment.
A good present for readers interested in ancient history and with an open mind.

A bit of a short review for this one: it's a very enjoyable read that looks carefully at the way it's pretty much impossible to say that a civilisation develops without influence from other places. Fluidity of movement, particularly by means of the sea or river travel, means ideas and inventions moved more easily from place to place than previously thought.

It's an intriguing read, full of lots of interesting detail, and I enjoyed it very much though it's not a book to read in a couple of sittings. Instead, I ended up dipping into it for a chapter or two at a time and liked that experience very much.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley. This is my honest review of the book in question.

Interesting book and written well. Felt dense in parts, but then that's the nature of the topic!
Definitely much food or thought and an interesting author who I'll keep an eye on in future

This excellent book should be read by anyone who is between 15 and 21 years of age as it gives an excellent perspective into how our present Western civilization evolved from the ancient beginnings in the present day Middle and Far East. It also describes facts of history that put some of our present-day prejudices into context and proves that distasteful events of the recent past e.g. slavery, is nothing new and continues into the present day.
Reading and learning of historical facts can be seen as a boring dry subject, but this book is written in such a way that the reader is drawn into the descriptions and thirsts for more. I found this a great refresher on my historical knowledge, corrected several misconceptions and opened my eyes to current events and their early historical roots.
Informative, educational and a very enthralling book.

We are used to think about the past centuries as a moment when people spent most of their life in a limited area. This is not true as there was a lot of cultural and commercial exchanges.
What we call western culture is the result of the influxes of many different cultures. Even if it was sold as "civilisation" there were a lot of different civilisation.
This is a lively and informative book that clarifies what I said before. Well researched and well written
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

As a mature reader with an interest in history, I have seen a paradigm shift in the telling of history in the last decade. Nothing new has been discovered, but writers are looking at previously overlooked or ignored sources and turned everything we thought we knew about the history of the western world on its head. Younger historians are bringing completely fresh perspectives to the genre. Some of the books make uncomfortable reading, but I am enjoying the re-education immensely.
How the world made the west is a very readable addition to the "looking at our history from a different perspective' genre. It is a lively engaging read, and a good one to recommend or gift as there is nothing to make fusty old men uncomfortable. The book is interesting, and should keep the attention of non historians, and shows that there is always a much bigger picture, and teaches us that Europe did not grow in its own little bubble.

I think the following quote from the book sums it up perfectly:

"Many people in ancient times spent their whole lives in small worlds revolving around farm and family, travelling no further than a local festival, shrine or market. Others, though, lived on the road - or more often on the sea learning each other's languages, settling in each other's lands and cities and adopting each other's gods. They told each other stories as well, living cultural counterparts to the glittering objects that now fill museum cabinets. Together, they created an overlapping set of legends, gods and heroes all across the Mediterranean, and then used them to tell more local stories."

The book explains how the fluidity of movement influenced the cultural development of early western societies. In many ways the influence of the east which was exemplified in Peter Frankopan's masterful book "Silk Roads" is a compliment to this book. Interestingly, the author of this book and Frankopan are colleagues at the same Oxford college.

This book shows how eastern merchants, sailors and armies gave the early Greeks religion (gods), mythologies, the template for building ships and exploring other lands. Thus the eastern influence on western culture, science,technology and in particular the use of an alphabet (writing) would create the basis of the Homeric legends that are so celebrated in the west.

This is a well written book that would appeal to anyone interested in ancient history and culture.

With thanks to Net Galley for the opportunity to read an advanced electronic copy of the book.

I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants a well written and researched global history. People were trading, making connections from east to west and back again, ever expanding their horizons from around 2000 BCE onwards. War and conquest did have a role to play, but trade was the great motivator in exploring. For example, there was a canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea during the time of the pharaohs which helped trade with India. Everything was connected, and Josephine Quinn shows how it wasn't until the Spanish Reconquest, and the beginnings of trade with the Americas that Europe became separate and felt dominant over the rest of the world.

With thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a phenomenal read, focusing on the evolution of the West over a timeframe of 4000 years running from 2500 BCE to 1500 CE. Conventional history books would portray the developments occurring during this timeframe mainly as intrinsically European driven events. The author however does a brilliant job in shining her historical searchlight across all the times that instead it was the meaningful interface between distinct regions which provided the impetus for these developments. The result is a fascinating original read which put me in mind of Frankopan's "Silk Roads". Highly recommended!

#HowtheWorldMadetheWest #NetGalley

This was an interesting read and an important one in the same time. In order to understand our present society we need to understand our past. I loved how it explains in details from the ancient times how people moved around the globe and connected each other and thus changed the world. We can see that although some ancient empires had their significant role in our society that is at the moment, actually some parts we can see today have a longer history with roots in some parts of the world we may or may not expect. I feel like all those interested in the history of the world and love to learn new things need to read this book.

I am happy I read it and thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for the ARC .

This book offers is an easy, entertaining read for those interested in history, offering a perspective that intrinsically resonates with those readers that are keenly aware of what historian bias is and how cultures, despite the old white history's desire to paint them as constantly being at odds with each other, have been in a long-running dialogue with one another instead. The idea is not exactly novel, but I like how it brought to the surface aspects of it that created historiographic concepts that still dominate the popular discourse. The book covers wide swathes of history, focusing on the parts of it that contributed greatly to creating the myth of the West (centered mostly around the Mediterranean): I found this lens a very interesting one, prompting a fresh look on events and places long familiar. I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to readers with interest in world history and multicultural interest.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.