review of GEORGIOS VAROUXAKIS, The West. The History of an Idea, Princeton and Oxford, Princeton University Press, 2025

The idea of the West in the history of culture is the subject of this work proposed by Georgios Varouxakis. The book is accessible to a wide audience and treats a theme that is of high interest in the present international political fractures. Varouxakis argues that this work reconstructs when, how and why the idea of “the West” emerged as a sociopolitical concept during the last two centuries to point at a social or political entity based on some cultural commonality. It consequently deals with a variety of materials and a plurality of disciplinary approaches, including methodological aspects. Therefore, for the reader, it is a good exercise in the analysis and questioning of concepts. But all perspectives, from politics to philosophy are presented in the most accessible way and that makes this book perfect to a wide audience.