Bruce Bueno de Mesquita presents a novel explanation for western exceptionalism.Today's book: The Invention of Power: Popes Kings, and the Birth of the WestFollow @IdeasHavingSexx on twitterOther works by BruceContact Bruce: bruce.buenodemesquita@nyu.eduBruce’s recommended reading: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, by Max Weber, and The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous, by Joseph HenrichEconomic growth, Catholicism, religion, church and state, democracy, revolution, politics, Trump