
Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700–1800
Lee Lawrence
Jonathan M. Bloom.
2020, Yale UP, 978-0-30021-8-701, $65 hb.
Books about the arts of al-Andalus and the Maghrib typically focus on a country, an era, city or single building. Bloom, however, looks at architecture from southern Spain through Northwest Africa as “a distinct tradition in its own right.” Each chapter offers a map, ample illustrations and historical context, along with descriptions that both underscore the diversity within the region’s architecture and single out shared traits, distinctive contributions and their impact on other locales. A leading scholar of Islamic art, Bloom takes a practical, evidentiary approach. He points to local circumstances—from availability of materials to political ambitions—as playing a more important role than influences from distant centers in the Islamic East. He questions assumptions and avoids speculative interpretations and overarching conclusions. Like a gardener loosening hard-packed soil to sow new seeds, he lays the foundation for future research while providing a revealing, well-grounded, accessible overview of an architecturally rich region all too often deemed no more than “a provincial offshoot.”
You may also be interested in...
Omani Author Zahran Alqasmi's Story About Life, Land and Honey
In his third novel, about a beekeeper living in Oman’s mountainous interior, local author Zahran Alqasmi grapples with a changing landscape around him.Novel Reimagines 1001 Nights With a Feminine Take
Jamila Ahmed takes on classic folktales with a newfound feminine perspective in historical fiction novel.Child's Play: Reconstructing Everyday Life of Youth in Ancient Egypt
Egyptologist Amandine Marshall observes how the depictions of children created by Ancient Egyptians seldom illustrated their actual lives.