Tribune – Comment, news and reviews from Britain's democratic left

The Revolution and the Civil War in Spain 1934-1939 by Pierre Broué and Emile Temine
Haymarket, £30

THE revolution and the civil war in Spain was, like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan today, pathologically brutal. Religious extremism, political separatism, vicious sectarianism and foreign intervention fuelled the violence, but the key component was a deep-rooted class hatred. More than half of Spain was illiterate, undernourished and landless. the start of the civil war, fascist landowners commonly boasted about lining up their manual workers and shooting them.

Science & Islam by Ehsan Masood
Icon Books, £14.99

THE accepted role for the Dar al Islam is that it served as a living left luggage locker where Greek science was conveniently stored during the Dark Ages before being reclaimed with the Renaissance. Here Masood tries to do in this small book what Joseph Needham did for Chinese science in 24 volumes and show that Muslims – and non-Muslims – in the Caliphate built on what they borrowed and returned it with massive interest to the West.

If I Am Not For Myself: Journey of an Anti-Zionist Jew by Mike Marqusee
Verso, £15.99

THERE can scarcely be a single Palestine solidarity activist who hasn’t been accused of being anti-Semitic. The charge of anti-Semitism has become so endemic that it has become the currency of what passes for debate among Zionists, too. Who can forget the cartoon caricatures of Yitzhak Rabin, the assassinated Israeli Prime Minister, dressed up in Nazi uniform? And Jewish anti-Zionists face a particular calumny. They are “self-haters”.

China China China!!! Chinese Contemporary Art Beyond the Global Market
Sainsbury Centre, Norwich

CHINA China China!!! is as engaging for its commentary on dramatic changes within the visual arts in this vast country as for the actual objects on show. Until nine years ago, for instance, the use of video by artists – one of the most popular art forms in the West – was forbidden or just not shown. As attitudes began to loosen, video slowly began to emerge – although without the authorities necessarily condoning it. Now, as in many other countries, video is one of the preferred art forms by artists wanting to free themselves from the past in order to deal with the here and now. Videos make up a large part of China China China!!!