In a day when women were expected to be “politely educated,” married, and subservient, Bell was single, Oxford-educated, a mountain climber, and a desert explorer.Īfter teaching herself Arabic, she braved the deserts of pre-World War I Mesopotamia and Arabia with a few servants and her guns. 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.

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. 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. 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. Here is the story of Gertrude Bell, who explored, mapped, and excavated the Arab world throughout the early twentieth century. 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.This 'richly textured biography' ( Chicago Tribune) inspired the mesmerizing documentary, Letters from Baghdad, soon to air on public television. 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. ' Desert ucks Gertrude Bell out of the shadow of Lawrence of Arabia.' - The Boston Globe The definitive biography, mesmerizing and “richly textured ” ( Chicago Tribune), that inspired the acclaimed documentary, Letters from Baghdad.

Desert queen by janet wallach