Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781400096190)

The definitive biography, mesmerizing and "richly textured " (Chicago Tribune), that inspired the acclaimed documentary, Letters from Baghdad. - With a new Afterword - "Desert Queen...plucks Gertrude Bell out of the shadow of Lawrence of Arabia." --The Boston Globe

Here is the story of Gertrude Bell, who explored, mapped, and excavated 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.

Author: Janet Wallach
ISBN-10: 1400096197
ISBN-13: 9781400096190
Publisher: Anchor Books
Language: English
Published: 07/12/2005
Pages: 464
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.94lbs
Size: 8.12h x 5.26w x 0.95d

Review Citation(s):
Ingram Advance 06/01/2005 pg. 55
New York Times Book Review 10/25/2007 pg. 10
Outside 10/01/2013 pg. 97