The Idea of the West: Culture, Politics and History

by Alastair Bonnett

The West is on everyone's it is defended, celebrated, hated. But how and why did it emerge? And whose idea is it? This book is about representations of the West. Drawing on sources from across the world - from Russia to Japan, Iran to Britain - it argues that the West is not merely a Western idea but something that many people around the world have long been creating and stereotyping. The Idea of the West looks at how the great political and ethnic forces of the last century defined themselves in relation to the West, addresses how Soviet communism, 'Asian spirituality', 'Asian values' and radical Islamism used and deployed images of the West. Both topical and wide-ranging, it offers an accessible but provocative portrait of a fascinating subject and it charts the complex relationship between whiteness and the West.

Genres: Politics, History

201 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 2004

About the author

Alastair Bonnett is a professor of social geography at Newcastle University. He is the author of several books, including What Is Geography?, How to Argue, Left in the Past, and The Idea of the West. He has also contributed to history and current affairs magazines on a wide variety of topics.

Reviews

[Imran Rasid · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book explored, albeit quite briefly, of various historical construction of the west as an idea. While large portion of the book includes a non-western thinkers as references, the author also includes some bits on how the West emerged as a discourse in places like soviet union and england.

I generally find the book to be okay, since it's descriptive contents lack of interesting analysis.