Jessica's review
Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations by Georgina Howell
Jessica's review
rating:
bookshelves: history, mid-east
recommended for: history buffs
status: Read in January, 2008
rating:
bookshelves: history, mid-east
recommended for: history buffs
status: Read in January, 2008
Fascinating account of a pretty amazing woman. Growing up in Victorian England, Bell received a First at Oxford, became an accomplished mountaineer, and traveled extensively through the desert in Syria and Iraq. Her most noted accomplishment was her involvement in the Arab Revolt during World War I and helping to create an Iraqi nation under the British mandate.
Well-written, well researched - Howell integrates lots of primary sources into her text, but it's not detracting and adds a lot to the book.
My one complaint is that she gives an overly positive slant to her accounts of British nation-building in Iraq. There is no arguing that Gertrude Bell knew her stuff and truly understood the region, and, certainly, circumstances out of her control also shaped much of the region post-WWI, but she has to be given some responsibility for setting up an Iraqi government that was largely unsuccessful. The history is accurate but a little too subjective and romantic to sit well with me.
Well-written, well researched - Howell integrates lots of primary sources into her text, but it's not detracting and adds a lot to the book.
My one complaint is that she gives an overly positive slant to her accounts of British nation-building in Iraq. There is no arguing that Gertrude Bell knew her stuff and truly understood the region, and, certainly, circumstances out of her control also shaped much of the region post-WWI, but she has to be given some responsibility for setting up an Iraqi government that was largely unsuccessful. The history is accurate but a little too subjective and romantic to sit well with me.
