The Triumph of the West

This illuminating and authoritative account, linked with but greatly expanded from a major 13-part television series written and presented by the distinguished historian, John Roberts, comments upon the history of western civilisation from its earliest roots in the Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian traditions and seeks to uncover what it was that gave European culture its outward push and confident energy for so many centuries. What has provided its unique vigour beyond its own boundaries that so distinguishes it from other world civilisations? 

Professor Roberts here not only identifies and traces a number of the continuing strands running through the West's conceptions of itself and other civilisations, but draws a picture of the nature of its often flawed and complicated triumph. The paradoxical and, in the end, irreversible impact of the West on the rest of the world provides a fascinating story. Its working-out reverberates to this day in our own lives. Professor Robert's telling of it, in this richly illustrated and brilliantly argued book, is based on examples drawn from a huge range of world history, examples which are stimulating, provocative and always challenging.