The Western World

The Western World: Five Centuries of Political and Cultural Dominance In this panoramic study, Peter Franken charts the rise, global expansion, and structural supremacy of Western civilisation over half a millennium. Moving beyond standard institutional histories, the book explores how European powers projected global hegemony—not only through military and economic power, but through the profound cultural, ideological, and secular shifts following the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. From the revolutionary fires of 1789 and the Napoleonic restructuring of Europe to the conquest of Latin America, the partitioning of Africa, and the colonial dynamics of Asia, Franken dissects the core mechanics of imperial dominance and the boomerangs of decolonisation. The volume culminates in a deep examination of The Jewish Century, exploring the tragic intersection of assimilation, ideocracy, and destruction in modern Europe. Richly detailed and multidisciplinary, The Western World provides an essential blueprint for understanding how five centuries of Western dominance shaped the foundations—and fractures—of our contemporary global order.