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The origins and achievements of Islamic Spain
JOHN GREEN recommends a book on the unique cultural and scientific society created over seven centuries in al-Andalus
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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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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