Download or read book Iraq and Gertrude Bell s The Arab of Mesopotamia written by Gertrude Lowthian Bell and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2008 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To understand contemporary Iraq and the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, no book provides a surer guide or more unsettling experience, written as it was for another war, another army, and another time. Gertrude Bell for a fleeting moment was the optimistic progenitor of the Iraq that today is becoming unglued.

Download or read book The Arab of Mesopotamia written by Gertrude Bell and published by . This book was released on 2016-07-12 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One very determined woman incontestably held her own and more with the great figures of the Middle East in the early twentieth century. That was Gertrude Bell. Highly strung, petulant, aggressive, and gossipy, she occasionally provided tea but rarely sympathy to the extraordinary group of British imperial administrators whose adventures centered on Basra at the head of the Gulf in 1914-1916. Not enough has been made of the Barra cabal as a group rather than individuals. Nor have the machinations of the 'Basra gang' had the attention given to figures such as Lawrence of Arabia and General Allenby, individuals who when all is said and done were not deeply involved in Gulf and Iraqi affairs. The Arab of Mesopotamia is a collection of once confidential briefing papers that Bell helped to produce for British army officers new to the Mesopotamian theater, published in Basra by a military printer. The tone confirms views that Gertrude Bell and her colleagues were interested in the possibility of playing on the world stage and wanted quiet in the shaikhdoms while they pursued notions of a Middle East empire that would rival the Indian empire. Heady plans were made for an Imperial service that would include Arabia, Iraq, the Trans-Jordan, and even the Sudan. While exiting, this 'mega outlook' was opposed to Arab concerns. The apotheosis for Bell was reached in 1921 when Winston Churchill called a famous meet- ing of forty Middle East experts in Cairo. The conference photography shows her as the lone woman. Secreted in the Semiramis Hotel, she and the other 'forty thieves' laid out policies whose failures (and Lawrence's disillusionment) are well known. Therein lies the tragedy of her life, perhaps more of a tragedy that than of Lawrence. Almost none of the undertakings to the Arabs to which she was an enthusiastic participant were realized. There were a number of these promises, although they were less publicized than those made in the famous McMahon letters. For example, the assurances at the 1916 durbar at Kuwait were equally dishonored: the shaikh of Kuwait received a CSI and Ibn Saud got the KCIE along with pledges that with the defeat of the Turks: "The dream of Arab unity ... has been brought nearer fulfillment than dreams are wont to come, but the role of presiding genius has been recast." Instead of an Arabian viceregality that would justify the wonderful title of 'Viceroys of the Gulf, ' or of a 'final' resolution of the region's conflicts, British Imperial administration be- tween the world wars became a long and unsatisfactory interlude in which little was accom- plished. Hobson remarks in Imperialism about the use of 'masked worlds' and an Imperial Genius for inconsistency: "Most of the men who have misled ... have first been obliged to mis- lead themselves." This was the case with Gertrude Bell, who committed suicide in 1926. After she and her friends departed the scene, the air went out if the balloon, and the 'countervailing disadvantages' of being misled became apparent to the Arabs. This little-known book is one key to heady days at Basra when the Middle East empire seemed likely.

Download or read book The Arab of Mesopotamia written by Gertrude Lowthian Bell and published by . This book was released on 1917 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Letters of Gertrude Bell written by Gertrude Lowthian Bell and published by . This book was released on 1927 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Gertrude Bell and Iraq written by Paul Thomas Collins and published by Proceedings of the British Aca. This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a major re-evaluation of the life and legacy of Gertrude Lowthian Bell (1868-1926), the renowned scholar, explorer, writer, archaeologist, and British civil servant. The book examines Gertrude Bell's role in shaping British policy in the Middle East in the first part of the 20th century, her views of the cultures and peoples of the region, and her unusual position as a woman occupying a senior position in the British imperial administration. It focuses particularly on her involvement in Iraq and the part she played in the establishment of the Iraqi monarchy and the Iraqi state. In addition, the book examines her interests in Iraq's ancient past. She was instrumental in drawing up Iraq's first Antiquities Law in 1922 and in the foundation of the Iraq Museum in 1923. Gertrude Bell refused to be constrained by the expectations of the day, and was able to succeed in a man's world of high politics and diplomacy. She remains a controversial figure, however, especially in the context of the founding of the modern state of Iraq. Does she represent a more innocent age when the country was born out of the remnants of the Ottoman Empire, or does she personify the attitudes and decisions that have created today's divided Middle East? The volume's authors bring new insights to these questions.

Download or read book Gertrude Bell written by Susan Goodman and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During her lifetime the name of Gertrude Bell evoked rich images of the exotic and mysterious Arab world. But her fame faded and now she is remembered only as a friend and colleague of T.E. Lawrence. She was an intrepid traveller, journeying alone through the deserts of the Middle East or scaling testing peaks in the Swiss Alps. Later, as a British political officer in Baghdad, where she died and is buried, she was able to play a considerable role in determining the future of Mesopotamia, later to be called Iraq.

Download or read book Desert Queen written by Janet Wallach and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2010-11-30 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Passenger to Teheran written by Vita Sackville-West and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Passenger to Teheran" by Vita Sackville-West. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Download or read book The Arab War written by Gertrude Lowthian Bell and published by eStar Books. This book was released on 2015 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating look at the politics of the Arab world in the 1920’s. These were originally Confidential Information Despatches for General Headquarters (in England) written by Gertrude Bell which were gathered and printed in the 1940’s.

Download or read book A Quest in the Middle East written by Liora Lukitz and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2005-12-20 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revered or reviled, Gertrude Bell was a commanding figure: scholar, linguist, archaeologist, traveller and 'orientalist'. A remarkable woman in male-dominated Edwardian society, she shunned convention by eschewing marriage and family for an academic career and the extensive travelling that would lead to her major role in Middle Eastern diplomacy. But her private life war marred by the tragedy, vulnerability and frustration that were key to her quest both for a British dominated Middle East and relief from the torture of her romantic failures. Through her vivid writings, she brought the Arab world alive for countless Britons as she travelled to some of the region's most inhospitable places. She explored the Ottoman Empire during and after World War I when her travels throughout the region and her knowledge of Arabic made her indispensable to British Intelligence. Alongside T.E. Lawrence, she was hugely instrumental in the post-war reconfiguration of the Arab states in the Middle East. In Iraq, in particular, she became a friend and confidant of the new King Faisal, and a prime mover in drawing up the country's boundaries and establishing a constitutional monarchy there, with its parliament, civil service and legal system. She was influential in creating the state which had all the trappings of independence while remaining a virtual British colony. The legacy of her work is still being played out in the conflicts of today. Yet behind Gertrude Bell's public success was a backdrop of personal passions, desires and the relationships that drove this extraordinary woman. Embroiled in an unsuccessful love affair with Charles Doughty-Wylie, a married man, she found peace in the solitude of the desert. But the seemingly intractable problems of the newly independent Iraq led her to write of the 'weariness of it all'. Shortly afterwards she took her own life with a lethal dose of sleeping pills. Using previously unseen sources, including Gertude Bell's own diaries and letters, Liora Lukitz provides a deeper political and personal biography of this influential character. A Quest in the Middle East is a lyrical and illuminating portrait of a woman born ahead of her time, grappling with issues that would shape the future of the Middle East.

Download or read book My Mesopotamia Notes written by Valdivia S. Beauchamp and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-01-25 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: My Mesoptamia: Notes of Gertrude Bell Her forthcoming book is My Mesoptamia: Notes of Gertrude Bell. Gertrude Bell (4 July 1868 - 12 July 1926) is an amazing Victorian woman - explorer, archeologist (whose pioneering work holds up to this day), writer, translator and advisor to the British government. Bell is the subject of the recent Werner Herzog biopic, Queen of the Desert, starring Nicole Kidman, a film which romanticizes Bell. Valdivia's book examines the deeper aspects of this groundbreaking feminine polymath and the political repercussions of her work with the British. Many of Bell's recommendations, good and bad, still have deep resonance in the Middle East today. Unfortunately, the credit and honor (or blame and opprobium) which she so richly deserves has been shifted by history and myth to T.E. Laurence (Laurence of Arabia). In 1992, when Valdivia was finishing her masters degree at NYU, she was talking with acquaintances, who mentioned April Glaspie, the American ambassador to Iraq (the first woman ambassador to an Arab country). Just prior to the First Gulf War in 1992, Glaspie had a still-controversial meeting with Saddam Hussain. Some English people present during the conversation commented, "It would have been nice if Glaspie could have met Gertrude Bell." "Who is Gertrude Bell?" Valdivia asked. "She was the woman who had all the answers when the British were taking over the Ottoman Empire. She never got any of the credit she deserved for all the work she did." Thus was planted the seeds of a fascination that would grow and grow, until in 2004, when Valdivia began intensive research on Bell. Not only did she access Bell's letters, books and archival material, but she also traveled to Syria, Jordan, Iran and Turkey to visit sites associated with Bell. Initially, Valdivia wrote a 300-page novel about Bell, focusing on her travels throughout the Mideast. The book was translated into French and published in 2012 by Yvelinedition as Khatun: Gertrude Bell - Mentor de Laurence d'Arabie. At this point, Valdivia has no plans to publish the book in English. "As I was researching her life," she remembers, "I began to realize how deeply she was involved in politics and international affairs. Whatever she did in those long-ago years is even more pertinent now." This fact is evidenced by Bell's introductory quote in My Mesopotamia: "There is no unity among the Arab peoples." First, Valdivia thought up the title, then began outlining, with each entry another chapter. Unlike her other books, there is so much information to be conveyed, Valdivia wrote a prologue for each chapter. My Mesopotamia is told through the eyes of Sydney Flint, a Purdue archeology professor and lover of literature. Flint and her husband arrive in Baghdad on the day Clinton orders a missile strike on the Iraqi intelligence agency in retaliation for the Iraqi plot to assassinate George Bush. At the Iraq Museum (founded by Bell), they discover a manuscript in Arabic, the only words intelligible to her being Gertrude Bell's name. Flint is desperate to obtain the manuscript, or even a copy, and begins clandestine negotiations with a museum guard. But as perils for Americans in Iraq increase, Sydney and her husband must return to the U.S. without it. A few months later, the manuscript arrives in the mail, followed by a phone call from the museum guard, who demands a large sum of money. The Arabic was only on the cover page for museum goers to read. In actual fact, the contents of the manuscript were original notes by Bell, the nitty-gritty of political corruption and intrigue. Flint intends to pay the guard, but after his phone call, she hears nothing more from him. A series of strange and unnerving events begin to happen to the couple, culminating in their attempted murder. But the would-be Arab murderers are merely underlings, the front for a far more sinister cover-up.

Download or read book The Arab of Mesopotamia written by and published by . This book was released on 1916* with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Daughter of the Desert written by Georgina Howell and published by MacMillan. This book was released on 2006 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a time when women were still largely excluded from both education and the workplace, Gertrude Bell was an archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author, poet, photographer and mountaineer - but until the Iraq War of 2003 few people had heard her name. During the course of her extraordinary life she not only abandoned her privileged background of country house parties and debutante balls to become one of the first women to graduate from Oxford; she also travelled into the desert as an archaeologist, where through her command of Arabic and knowledge of tribal affiliations she became indispensable to the Cairo Office of the British government. A friend of T.E. Lawrence, she later advised the Viceroy of India and, during the First World War, travelled from Delhi to the front line in Mesopotamia where she took up and steadily upheld the principle of an autonomous Arab nation for Iraq, promoting and manipulating the election of King Faisal to the throne and helping to draw the borders of the fledgling state.

Download or read book The Desert and the Sown written by Gertrude Lowthian Bell and published by London: W. Heinemann. This book was released on 1907 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Gertrude Bell written by Georgina Howell and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2010-04-01 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A marvelous tale of an adventurous life of great historical import She has been called the female Lawrence of Arabia, which, while not inaccurate, fails to give Gertrude Bell her due. She was at one time the most powerful woman in the British Empire: a nation builder, the driving force behind the creation of modern-day Iraq. Born in 1868 into a world of privilege, Bell turned her back on Victorian society, choosing to read history at Oxford and going on to become an archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author (of Persian Pictures, The Desert and the Sown, and many other collections), poet, photographer, and legendary mountaineer (she took off her skirt and climbed the Alps in her underclothes). She traveled the globe several times, but her passion was the desert, where she traveled with only her guns and her servants. Her vast knowledge of the region made her indispensable to the Cairo Intelligence Office of the British government during World War I. She advised the Viceroy of India; then, as an army major, she traveled to the front lines in Mesopotamia. There, she supported the creation of an autonomous Arab nation for Iraq, promoting and manipulating the election of King Faisal to the throne and helping to draw the borders of the fledgling state. Gertrude Bell, vividly told and impeccably researched by Georgina Howell, is a richly compelling portrait of a woman who transcended the restrictions of her class and times, and in so doing, created a remarkable and enduring legacy. " ... there’s never a dull moment in the peerless life of this trailblazing character." - Kirkus Reviews

Download or read book Explore with Gertrude Bell written by Tim Cooke and published by Travel with the Great Explorer. This book was released on 2017-09-15 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating book takes readers through the life story of influential English archaeologist and traveler Gertrude Bell. Bell explored what is now the Middle East and played a significant role in the creation of modern Iraq. Historical facts, images, and high-interest information are presented in a tabloid-style to engage readers in an accessible way. Topics include Bell's work in archaeology, her mountain summits, and her role in World War One.

Download or read book A Woman in Arabia written by Gertrude Bell and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-08-11 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A portrait in her own words of the female Lawrence of Arabia, the subject of the PBS documentary Letters from Baghdad, voiced by Tilda Swinton, and the major motion picture Queen of the Desert, starring Nicole Kidman, James Franco, Damian Lewis, and Robert Pattinson and directed by Werner Herzog Gertrude Bell was leaning in 100 years before Sheryl Sandberg. One of the great woman adventurers of the twentieth century, she turned her back on Victorian society to study at Oxford and travel the world, and became the chief architect of British policy in the Middle East after World War I. Mountaineer, archaeologist, Arabist, writer, poet, linguist, and spy, she dedicated her life to championing the Arab cause and was instrumental in drawing the borders that define today’s Middle East. As she wrote in one of her letters, “It’s a bore being a woman when you are in Arabia.” Forthright and spirited, opinionated and playful, and deeply instructive about the Arab world, this volume brings together Bell’s letters, military dispatches, diary entries, and travel writings to offer an intimate look at a woman who shaped nations. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.