Introduction Obsessed with origins -- Chapter 1 The rejection of purity: Herodotus -- Chapter 2 The Asian Europeans: Livilla -- Chapter 3 The global heirs of antiquity: Al-Kindī -- Chapter 4 The Asian Europeans again: Godfrey of Viterbo -- Chapter 5 The illusion of Christendom: Theodore Laskaris -- Chapter 6 The reimagining of antiquity: Tullia D'Aragona -- Chapter 7 The path not trodden: Safiye Sultan -- Chapter 8 The West and knowledge: Francis Bacon -- Chapter 9 The West and empire: Njinga of Angola -- Chapter 10 The West and politics: Joseph Warren -- Chapter 11 The West and race: Phyllis Wheatley -- Chapter 12 The West and modernity: William Ewart Gladstone -- Chapter 13 The West and its critics: Edward Said -- Chapter 14 The West and its rivals: Carrie Lam -- Conclusion The shape of history -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Further reading -- Index

A captivating exploration of how "Western Civilization"-the concept of a single cultural inheritance extending from ancient Greece to modern times-is a powerful figment of our collective imagination.--