Philippe Gigantes, a Greek-born Canadian journalist, political commentator, and senior civil servant in Trudeau’s government, offers a thought-provoking and accessible survey of world history in his new book, Power and Greed. As the title suggests, history for Gigantes is a frenzied and destructive display of power and greed. His sobering and unadorned chronology of events dating back to the dawn of time highlights countless acts of aggression.

Gigantes focuses on the historical leaders of Western society, or what he calls the Aryan language group. He differentiates between leaders that established rules for enlightening social and cultural governance – Solon, Plato, Jesus, Muhammad, and Buddha – and what he calls Grand Acquisitors, individuals who shaped history through a scandalously amoral drive to acquire power. Although Gigantes points out the enormous influence the Grand Acquisitors have exerted, he makes it clear that they were consistently helped by the like-minded, morally corrupt military and clerical elites of their time.

This book promises to challenge historical orthodoxy and to be provocative. Since the factual chronology of wars speaks for itself, what is really being challenged here is the West’s naive and misplaced belief in firm historical boundaries between good and evil, the inevitability of justice, and the basic goodness of humanity. The reader is left ashamed by our shared history of cruelty toward each other.

Gigantes resists the urge to judge the players he portrays. He presents his evidence in a detached tone, occasionally sprinkled with dry and sardonic remarks that reveal his disillusionment. The material itself forces the reader to take a position, to choose which religious order or political or national cause was in the wrong. It would have been interesting if Gigantes had developed his concepts a bit further and offered more insights into the “whys” of history. Still, this book is a worthwhile read, one that helps to put the Sept. 11 attacks into a broader perspective.