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The origins and achievements of Islamic Spain
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FEAT OF ENGINEERING: The Aynadamar irrigation canal - built between 1013 and 1090 by order of king Abd Allah ibn Buluggin - took fresh water from a source in Alfacar to the town of Víznar
[Javier Martin/Creative Commons]
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MARJORIE MAYO welcomes an account of family life after Oscar Wilde, a cathartic exercise, written by his grandson
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ANDY HEDGECOCK revels in a hugely enjoyable but deadly serious examination of the 1930s, that is an indictment of our own era
The bard distills our hellish times into fiery words
Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain
by Brian A Catlos
(Hurst, £14.99)
THE history of Islamic Spain has been dealt with in numerous books but largely in terms of viewing it through a prism of clashing religious civilisations.
But in this book Brian A Catlos rightly argues that the battles over control of this geographical peninsula were really about economic power and dominance, with religion being merely a tool or pretext.
While he depicts a fascinating historical record, which certainly helps demolish the idea of the Islamic colonisation and the reconquest as being the results of religious battles, he fails to examine the deeper economic causes that brought about those battles over this vital territory and throughout the Middle East.
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