The first book is The West, A New History in Fourteen Lives by Naoise Mac Sweeney. From the jacket:
“The concept of “the West” is present in every daily interaction you have, from entertainment and politics to world markets and world history. This engagingly intimate history will reshape the way you see the world around you. At this moment of civilizational redefinition, if we are to chart a future for the West, we must properly understand its past.
From Herodotus, a mixed-race migrant, to Phillis Wheatley, and enslaves African American who became a literary sensation; and from William Ewart Gladstone, with a private passion for epic poetry, to the medieval Arab scholar Al-Kindi, Mac Sweeney’s chosen subjects are a mind-expanding blend of unsungh heroes and familiar faces viewed afresh. These characters span the millennia and the continents, representing different religions, varying levels of wealth and education, diverse traditions and nationalities. Each life tells us something unexpected about the age in which it was lived and offers us a piece of the puzzle of how the modern idea of the West developed- and why we’ve misunderstood it for too long.
An urgently needed emergent voice in big history, in her groundbreaking retelling of the human narrative, Naoise Mac Sweeney debunks the myths and origin stories that underpin the history we thought we knew.”
Lest Occasion Be Given 