Sophie Bessis tells the story of the West's relationship with the world it came to dominate - from the conquest of the Americas, through the slave trade and the Scramble for Africa, the White Man's burden, Manifest Destiny and the growth of scientific racism, to decolonisation, the ideology of development and structural adjustment. Western Supremacy is the history of colonial and developmentalist thought. Starting with the Enlightenment idea of universality it traces how this facilitated a notion of the West rooted in a Hellenic inheritance systematically shorn of Egyptian or Arab influences. Though the hierarchy of races has now given way to the hierarchy of development, Bessis argues that developmentalism is the new incarnation of the West's paradoxical aspiration to lead the world into universalism whilst maintaining its own supremacy. An extraordinary tour-de-force which will fascinate everybody who has an interest in globalization, development and the history of ideas. “'The author's deep understanding of the societies of the South helps her avoid facile judgements.” ― Alternatives Economiques “A complex and original picture of international relations.” ― Le Monde des Livres “An extraordinary work of intellectual history, beautifully written, raising the most profound questions about that sacred cow, Western Civilization. I hope her book will be widely read.” ― Howard Zinn “This book glows with lucid anger - and impatience with the confusions offered us not only by the proponents of Western supremacy but by many of its supposed opponents.” ― Immanuel Wallerstein “A particularly stimulating work, which traces the evolution of the modern West from its renaissance roots to its most recent avatar.” ― Télérama Sophie Bessis was born and brought up in Tunisia and has subsequently spent most of her adult life living and working in France. A writer and journalist, she has held a number of important editorial and other posts, including head of research and subsequently editor in chief of Jeune Afrique; director of the Panos Institute in Paris; and editor of Vivre Autrement, which was published by ENDA at the major UN world summits since 1992. She is the author of a number of books over the past twenty years, including inter alia: L'Arme Alimentaire, Maspero, 1979: revised edition 1983 La DerniŠre FrontiŠre: Les tiers mondes et la tentations de l'Occident, J C Lattes, 1983 La faim dans le monde, La Decouverte, 1991 Femmes du Maghreb: l'Enjeu (with Souhayr Belhassen), JC Lattes, 1992 Femmes de Mediterrane, Karthala, 1995 La fin du tiers monde?, coauthored, La Decouverte, 1996 L'Occident et les autres: Histoire d'une suprematie, La Decouverte, 2001. Used Book in Good Condition