The word civilization is used a lot, particularly in political contexts. People talk about

inferior civilizations, superior civilizations, civilizational continuity between the past, the present and the future.

Generally speaking, in Britain and Europe, we view our civilization, Western civilization, as starting in ancient Greece.

It then passes the baton onto Rome, onto the Middle Ages, Christendom's there somewhere to, all the

way through to today. As a result, we view European and Western civilization as culturally

distinct, homogenous, its own thing, its own entity, and not really subject to influences

from elsewhere. Except that is not remotely true. In fact, it's something

of a myth. Today's guest is a sensational historian person and writer. Their latest book,

How the World Made the West, talks about precisely all of this through the span of 3,500 years, starting with

the earliest known civilizations, passing all the way through to the 16th century.

The author, Joe Quinn, is the first woman chair of ancient history at Cambridge, and I mean

it when I say, this book is sensational.

When it came out in Harbac, it was one of my favourite books of 2024. As a result, I'm very happy to have

on today's show, Joe Quinn. Joe, welcome to Downstream. Thank you. I am so excited about this conversation. I'm so

excited. You've written this extraordinary book, How the World Made the West. I read the

hardback. I've read the paper back. Well done. Oh my goodness. What a treat. What a treat.

This may be a strange first question, but how on earth did you get to read so much?

COVID.

COVID?

Yeah, it was really conveniently timed for me.

So when I started writing the book, I was based at the New York Public Library.

It was in the amazing Coleman Center for Scholars and Writers there.

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