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Access Utah

'The West' with Naoise Mac Sweeney on Wednesday's Access Utah

Naoise Mac Sweeney
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Penguin Random House

The concept of “the West” is present in every daily interaction you have, from entertainment and politics to world markets and world history. In her new book The West, historian Naoíse Mac Sweeney debunks the myths and origin stories that underpin the history we thought we knew. Told through fourteen figures who each played a role in the creation of the Western idea—from Herodotus, a mixed-race migrant, to Phylis Wheatley, an enslaved African American who became a literary sensation; and from Gladstone, with a private passion for epic poetry, to the medieval Arab scholar Al-Kindi—the subjects are a blend of unsung heroes and familiar faces viewed afresh.

Naoíse Mac Sweeney is professor of classical archaeology at the University of Vienna, having previously held posts at both Leicester and Cambridge Universities, and been a researcher at Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies. She has won numerous academic awards for her work on classical antiquity and origin myths, her previous book on Troy was shortlisted for a major prize, and she has appeared on BBC television and radio.

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Tom Williams worked as a part-time UPR announcer for a few years and joined Utah Public Radio full-time in 1996. He is a proud graduate of Uintah High School in Vernal and Utah State University (B. A. in Liberal Arts and Master of Business Administration.) He grew up in a family that regularly discussed everything from opera to religion to politics. He is interested in just about everything and loves to engage people in conversation, so you could say he has found the perfect job as host “Access Utah.” He and his wife Becky, live in Logan.