How many of you know it was Gertrude Bell? Well I know my friend Sara does, but that doesn't count because she knows lots of things ordinary people don't. I certainly didn't and I was truly awestruck by the personal and political endeavors of this Englishwoman, born in 1868, who scaled mountains, was fluent in half a dozen languages, did archaeology in her spare time, and truly was instrumental in the creation of the country today known as Iraq. The book is detailed and well written, with lots of notes on source materials, maps of her several expeditions in the mid-East, as well as a lengthy chronology, bibliography and index. Apparently vilified by some for her anti-suffragist views, she was personally one of the most intelligent, accomplished and influential women of her time. One only has to look at the cover of the book where she sites astride a camel in front of the Sphinx, flanked on one side by T.E. Lawrence (as in, Lawrence of Arabia) and on the other by Winston Churchill. Though she was passionately in love with several men during her lifetime, she never had a physical relationship with any of them and lived alone most of her adult life, much of of it in the countries of the Middle East that she loved so much. She admired and befriended Arabs of all religious sects, translated their poets, advocated for their right to self-rule, and eventually became a confidante and adviser to King Faisal. I only occasionally dip into biography and this one took me a while to finish, but it was well worth the effort, not only to learn about this amazing woman, but also to better understand the history of the area where we are making such a mess today. We are no better than the worst of the colonial powers who have played tug of war with these peoples' lands for centuries. The book is Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations by Georgina Howell, published in 2006.
