This larger sweep?

Does "this larger sweep" mean "the larger scope (broader themes) of this meeting/interview"?

Background info:

BINGHAM: Sam is here for the third annual Beyond Belief meeting. You were here for the first one
and the second. We°Ove gone through a lot of territory in thse two meetings, but I°Om thinking of this larger sweep, going back to The End of Faith. You said in the book that you started writing it on
9/12/2001, the day after the attacks. And from there, to almost the current issue of Newsweek,
perhaps last week°O Newsweek, where you°Ore impaling Palin, that°Os quite a sweep. Did you expec
to be traversing that kind of territory when you sat down to do this book?