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Podcast: New Books in Western European Studies
Episode: NaoÃse Mac Sweeney, "The West: A New History of an Old Idea" (Dutton, 2023)
Description: Dr. NaoÃse Mac Sweeney presents a radical new account of how the idea of the West has shaped our history, told through the stories of fourteen fascinating lives in her book The West: A New History of an Old Idea (Dutton, 2023).We tend to imagine Western Civilisation as a golden thread, leading through the centuries from classical antiquity to the countries of the modern West - a cultural genealogy that connects Plato to NATO. It is an idea often invoked in the speeches of politicians and the rhetoric of journalists, and which remains deeply embedded in pop...