A narrative history of the origins of Western civilization argues that Europe was transformed in the tenth century from a continent rife with violence and ignor

The tenth century dawned in violence and disorder. Charlemagne's empire was in ruins, most of Spain had been claimed by Moorish invaders, and even the papacy in

In the tradition of Why Nations Fail, this book solves one of the great puzzles of history: Why did the West become the most powerful civilization in the world?

First Published in 2005. The Carolingian Empire, short-lived as it was, is the central feature of those centuries of European history which are usefully if now

At the same time Ancestor of the West reminds us that these cultures were precursors of our own precisely because they possessed an intelligence that we still r