Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of...

Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of ... | Janet Wallach | Response to Paul Donovan

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Desert Queen: The ...

	Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of ... Janet Wallach Anchor Books, 2005 - 464 pages average customer review:based on 59 reviews view larger image
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Turning away from the privileged world of the "eminent Victorians," Gertrude Bell (1868?1926) explored, mapped, and excavated the world of the Arabs. 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 wit 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.

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Illuminating and timely

It's remarkable that a book written about events that took place 100 years ago has direct relevance to today, but that's just one of the many strengths of "Desert Queen." When you read about Gertrude Bell's political savvy about Iraq and the stubborness of the male politicians who ignored her advice, well, the parallels are obvious.

The biggest takeaway for me was imagining Bell's life traveling through the desert to meet sheiks who were truly living in a different world. The Middle East of the 19th century still had huge populations of nomadic tribes that measured their wealth in camels. They were not a part of the Western world -- though they were highly intrigued by it. With incredible bravery and an astounding ability to overcome exhaustion and discomfort, she worked her way into the tents of sheiks who would not let another woman sit in their presence. And then after a few months of visiting and gossip, she'd take a several-week journey back to the luxury surroundings of her family's home in England. There was probably only about a 50-year window in which a person could do what she did -- the heyday of British wealth, might, and arrogance -- and she took advantage of that period perfectly.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn about how Europeans thought about and influenced the Middle East. And, in fact, that's also the source of my only criticism of the book. If you don't know a lot about Middle East geography and history, the names and places mentioned in this book can sometimes be a blur. The maps and photos are very helpful, but for someone like me who has only a superficial knowledge, it's still hard to figure out at times.

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Response to Paul Donovan

In response to your comments on Janet Wallach's writing in "Desert Queen": Her wriing made a colorful biography and her sources fill pages at the back of the book. You noted there were no footnotes: Who wants to read footnote after footnote like in a textbook? This is a story of a very vibrant woman and why not have the author envision what Gertrude Bell might have been thinking or seeing at different times e.g., "...his dark eyes were flashing..." You could not understand why she was against women's sufferage: She was a traditionalist; she might also have thought women were not well informed enough to vote or because she thought more like a man and was so involved with men she might not have given women much weight in her world. Must everything have to be explained and analyzed in a book? Exercise your mind. This discussion from my good friend Jane Kosut, Atlantic Beach, FL> Harvard '77

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exceptional woman

I enjoyed learning about the fascinating life and accomplishments of Gertrude Bell and the delicate and complex Arab culture and political history. I sadly realize that the knowledge and lessons that the history provided for us so abundantly are not being applied by our current government. Should we make presidential candidates take mandatory history tests in order to qualify for their candidacy? I am not much of a history reader, but this book certainly inspired me to learn more. Also it is a shame that a person as influential as Gertrude Bell has not been well known to us as much as she deserves. The writing of this book was complex but coherent, very easy to follow and enjoyable.

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A Paradoxical Account

My book club split evenly on to whether to give this book three stars or four. The same thing that makes it extraordinary is also its biggest failing, that is the use Wallach makes of the huge trove of diaries, letters and pictures at the University of Newcastle. She can write about Bell's day-to-day experience with a detail and authority others would die for, but tends to take Bell at her own valuation and shortchange those who did not share her vision of a large Iraq under Sunni dominance.

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