Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell, Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia [B0506]

1996 PB with minor wear. This "richly textured biography” (Chicago Tribune) inspired the mesmerizing PBS documentary, Letters from Baghdad. Here is the story of Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), who turned her back on her privileged life in Victorian England to explore, map, and excavate the Arab world throughout the early twentieth century. Recruited by British intelligence during World War I, she played a crucial role in obtaining the loyalty of Arab leaders, and her connections and information provided the brains to match T. E. Lawrence's brawn. After the war, she played a major role in creating the modern Middle East and was, at the time, considered the most powerful woman in the British Empire. In this masterful biography, Janet Wallach shows us the woman behind these achievements–a woman whose passion and defiant independence were at odds with the confined and custom-bound England she left behind. Too long eclipsed by Lawrence, Gertrude Bell emerges at last in her own right as a vital player on the stage of modern history, and as a woman whose life was both a heartbreaking story and a grand adventure.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "A very interesting biography of an intrepid explorer, diplomat, and archaeologist during a time when women were not allowed to be quite so adventurous. I learned a good amount about Mesopotamia and the creation of Iraq, the Arab and desert tribal customs, and what one feisty and possibly overbearing, but curious and intelligent, woman can do."; "Interesting read on a woman I'd never heard of. Gives insight into modern politics in Iraq through the lens of history and the mind of Gertrude Bell."; "Excellent. Felt a kinship with this brilliant woman who built a nation but could not find a sustaining love."