How the World Made the West by Josephine Quinn

Someone told me this is in the category of "Dad Books" and I'm not mad. We are taught (by the dads, usually) a version of history that makes the West seem like it's the furthest evolution of ancient, noble principals emerging from a certain group-- ahem, the dads of antiquity, and that all advanced lifestyles are down to that inheritance. This notion is zenophobic bunk.

Josephine Quinn has written a beautiful, fascinating unspooling of history that proves how interdependent, wide-ranging and mutually influential ancient peoples were. No one emerged from isolation with the only epic ideas. We have all always been talking, influencing, trading, and fighting.

I was mesmerized by this well-researched, compassionate and humorous survey of life from the earliest records until the time when THE WEST emerged with all its swagger. I wish it were longer.