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Mata Hari
Mata Hari's whole life was a tribute to the power of romantic imagination. Almost a century after she was executed by a French firing quad she reigns in the popular imagination as the spy of spies. This is the story of one of the women who changed history.
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First published January 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 2, 2020
This is another book that started out strong, but lost its momentum somewhere in the middle.
Howe gives us chapter after chapter of Mata Hari, whose real name was Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, rose from poverty, created a legend for herself, introduced the world to the strip tease act and ultimately was executed as a German spy during WWI.
Zelle was born and grew up in Holland with a father who ruined her mother by leaving her for a mistress and ruined his family financially by his extravagant tastes for luxury.
Margareth Geertruida turned out to be not so unlike her father and one has to respect her grit. In a certain way she reminds me of the character Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. Despite adverse circumstances she fought her way through poverty to become a notorious stripper, but ultimately was made a WWI scapegoat.
When she was eighteen she married a British Lord, Rudolph John MacCleod, and moved to Indonesia with him. There they had two children, one whom mysteriously died while still a boy. It was suspected that their servant, in revenge for MacCleod sending away her lover (so he could have her for himself) poisoned the boy.
While in Indonesia, Zelle, now MacCleod, learned the art of exotic dancing as well as the language of the people. She used this back drop after she left MacCleod for his drunken rages and blatant infidelity, to create a saucy temptress that procured for her numerous lovers.
She accomplished by leaving with her daughter to Paris because, according to her, "Where else could a divorced woman hope to make a living?" Later MacCleod retrieves their daughter and Maragetha never sees her again.
Mata Hari, as I shall now call her, became known for her so-called Indian (she now claimed to be the daughter of an Indian Princess and a European man) dances routines, which involved taking off her scarves until she was completely naked. Well, not completely. She never uncovered her breasts because they were so flat. I think that's kind of funny, but maybe that's just me.
Her life is one of traveling from man to man and living far beyond her or any of her lovers' means. Finally, at forty, she decided she needed a cool million to finally retire and settle down. Plus she had a twenty year old Russian lover, a soldier in the Russian army, who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
She offered her services as a spy to the French.
To read Howe's telling, she was a complete incompetent and accomplished nothing. The Germans didn't take her seriously and the French didn't know quite how to use her, so they hired her as a "free lance" spy.
Nevertheless, she was eventually arrested and convicted of spying for the Germans.
Half of the book is not very interesting. It mainly consists of Howe describing every hotel and restaurant Mata Hari checked into, who she met, who she spoke to, who she slept with. It reads as fascinating as a grocery list.
However, Howe is convinced that as bumbling as Mata Hari was as a spy, she was not guilty of working for the Germans. She was rather a convenient scapegoat for the French who, perhaps to commander incompetence, lost thousands of French soldiers.
Perhaps this is true, but I have another biography I hope to read and see if I can glean another viewpoint before I make my own conclusion.
In addition to Mata Hari's life, this is a good history of life before and during WWI in Europe.
Howe gives us chapter after chapter of Mata Hari, whose real name was Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, rose from poverty, created a legend for herself, introduced the world to the strip tease act and ultimately was executed as a German spy during WWI.
Zelle was born and grew up in Holland with a father who ruined her mother by leaving her for a mistress and ruined his family financially by his extravagant tastes for luxury.
Margareth Geertruida turned out to be not so unlike her father and one has to respect her grit. In a certain way she reminds me of the character Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. Despite adverse circumstances she fought her way through poverty to become a notorious stripper, but ultimately was made a WWI scapegoat.
When she was eighteen she married a British Lord, Rudolph John MacCleod, and moved to Indonesia with him. There they had two children, one whom mysteriously died while still a boy. It was suspected that their servant, in revenge for MacCleod sending away her lover (so he could have her for himself) poisoned the boy.
While in Indonesia, Zelle, now MacCleod, learned the art of exotic dancing as well as the language of the people. She used this back drop after she left MacCleod for his drunken rages and blatant infidelity, to create a saucy temptress that procured for her numerous lovers.
She accomplished by leaving with her daughter to Paris because, according to her, "Where else could a divorced woman hope to make a living?" Later MacCleod retrieves their daughter and Maragetha never sees her again.
Mata Hari, as I shall now call her, became known for her so-called Indian (she now claimed to be the daughter of an Indian Princess and a European man) dances routines, which involved taking off her scarves until she was completely naked. Well, not completely. She never uncovered her breasts because they were so flat. I think that's kind of funny, but maybe that's just me.
Her life is one of traveling from man to man and living far beyond her or any of her lovers' means. Finally, at forty, she decided she needed a cool million to finally retire and settle down. Plus she had a twenty year old Russian lover, a soldier in the Russian army, who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
She offered her services as a spy to the French.
To read Howe's telling, she was a complete incompetent and accomplished nothing. The Germans didn't take her seriously and the French didn't know quite how to use her, so they hired her as a "free lance" spy.
Nevertheless, she was eventually arrested and convicted of spying for the Germans.
Half of the book is not very interesting. It mainly consists of Howe describing every hotel and restaurant Mata Hari checked into, who she met, who she spoke to, who she slept with. It reads as fascinating as a grocery list.
However, Howe is convinced that as bumbling as Mata Hari was as a spy, she was not guilty of working for the Germans. She was rather a convenient scapegoat for the French who, perhaps to commander incompetence, lost thousands of French soldiers.
Perhaps this is true, but I have another biography I hope to read and see if I can glean another viewpoint before I make my own conclusion.
In addition to Mata Hari's life, this is a good history of life before and during WWI in Europe.
August 24, 2015
If this is the true story, I'll take fiction.
For those who are wondering, "Mata Hari" is the stage name for M'greet Zelle, a Dutch woman born in 1876, who changed her real name as often as she changed clothes. She married an abusive man, spent several years in the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia), then returned to Europe, divorced her husband and made a name for herself doing nude dancing with an Oriental flair. After working through hundreds of lovers, she got caught up in espionage during World War I. She was arrested, tried and executed by the French.
Howe claims to be the first journalist to gain access to the sealed court documents relating to Mata Hari's trial (although even he wasn't able to read everything), so this 1986 nonfiction book purports to be more accurate and reliable than any previous published account. It may be correct in the details (lots and lots and lots of details) but it loses a great deal of human feeling.
The best biographies give you a real sense of who a person is--or was--and how they thought. They convey personality and feeling. Howe is a journalist, trained to stick to the facts, and it shows in his writing. The text is dry in the extreme, basically a long list of names, dates and places. He whips through the first 39 years of Zelle's life in a mad hurry and then slows to a crawl as he covers the trial. Because the book relies so heavily on the court documents, it spends far too much time examining every question and legal strategem employed in the courtroom.
I don't fault Howe for wanting to include so much material from his exclusive source. In fact, the book might have been stronger if he had been allowed to include the court documents in an appendix. However, in the main narrative, the sequence of events completely overshadows the person, which is a bad thing to happen to a biography. We are left with no real feeling for who Mata Hari actually was. That's the sort of personal touch that can only come from interviewing the subject's friends, relatives and enemies, and given how many other sources Howe cites during the book, I'm a bit puzzled as to why he didn't include any of these personal touches.
One star for being so dry it was almost unreadable. One additional star for serious, scholarly research.
For those who are wondering, "Mata Hari" is the stage name for M'greet Zelle, a Dutch woman born in 1876, who changed her real name as often as she changed clothes. She married an abusive man, spent several years in the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia), then returned to Europe, divorced her husband and made a name for herself doing nude dancing with an Oriental flair. After working through hundreds of lovers, she got caught up in espionage during World War I. She was arrested, tried and executed by the French.
Howe claims to be the first journalist to gain access to the sealed court documents relating to Mata Hari's trial (although even he wasn't able to read everything), so this 1986 nonfiction book purports to be more accurate and reliable than any previous published account. It may be correct in the details (lots and lots and lots of details) but it loses a great deal of human feeling.
The best biographies give you a real sense of who a person is--or was--and how they thought. They convey personality and feeling. Howe is a journalist, trained to stick to the facts, and it shows in his writing. The text is dry in the extreme, basically a long list of names, dates and places. He whips through the first 39 years of Zelle's life in a mad hurry and then slows to a crawl as he covers the trial. Because the book relies so heavily on the court documents, it spends far too much time examining every question and legal strategem employed in the courtroom.
I don't fault Howe for wanting to include so much material from his exclusive source. In fact, the book might have been stronger if he had been allowed to include the court documents in an appendix. However, in the main narrative, the sequence of events completely overshadows the person, which is a bad thing to happen to a biography. We are left with no real feeling for who Mata Hari actually was. That's the sort of personal touch that can only come from interviewing the subject's friends, relatives and enemies, and given how many other sources Howe cites during the book, I'm a bit puzzled as to why he didn't include any of these personal touches.
One star for being so dry it was almost unreadable. One additional star for serious, scholarly research.
February 20, 2010
I chose to read this book because I had heard references to Mata Hari and wanted to know her back story. It was difficult to find a book which gave an accurate, historical account of her life (many of them are embellishments or stories inspired by her), and I would recommend this book to someone looking for the history.
Not only did this book describe Mata Hari's life in as much detail as possible, it also provided good historical context which I also enjoyed reading. The author definitely had done his research, and it showed.
At times, the author's bias for Mata Hari was evident, and I feel there is too much speculation about the circumstances of Mata Hari's alleged double agent career to really know what happened and why she was executed. But this didn't negatively affect my reading.
Not only did this book describe Mata Hari's life in as much detail as possible, it also provided good historical context which I also enjoyed reading. The author definitely had done his research, and it showed.
At times, the author's bias for Mata Hari was evident, and I feel there is too much speculation about the circumstances of Mata Hari's alleged double agent career to really know what happened and why she was executed. But this didn't negatively affect my reading.
January 21, 2020
Me ha gustado que tratara de asumir una visión del caso lo más objetiva posible , aunque a momentos dejara ver su opinión y adornara el texto con puntos de vista bastante subjetivos. Sin embargo, el libro se me ha hecho repetitivo, pues pienso que el autor da demasiadas vueltas sobre los mismos hechos, repitiéndolos una y otra vez. Ahora bien, su prosa es elegante y hace que el libro se lea fácilmente.
December 7, 2024
El prolífico corresponsal y escritor británico firma la que quizás sea la más completa y seria investigación sobre Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod, bailarina exótica cuya leyenda como espía y cortesana deformaron hasta el ridículo los oportunistas de siempre. Con un estilo mordaz que nunca abandona el dato duro, presenta a la singular mujer cuya ambición desmedida e irregular sensatez precipitaron al destino que acabó extendiendo un mito a esta altura incontrolable.
March 1, 2008
This was certainly a different type of reading for me, albeit very interesting. I'd always heard references to Mata Hari, so I decided to read about her to find out who she really was.
September 16, 2012
Interesting - I found Mata Hari to be extremely self-absorbed, and (unless they hid a lot of facts) not that remarkable as a spy.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews