Janet Wallach's history of Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), Desert Queen, was read by my book club at least twice over the years, and several members have remarked that this was one of the best books the group has ever read. Hmmm. I guess they forgave the author her writing style...

Without question, Bell is a fascinating subject; a woman who played a major role in Middle Eastern politics, and yet whose story has rarely been told. A brilliant, curious female, she was the first woman to earn a first-class degree in modern history at Oxford, she wrote seven influential books on the Middle East and, following WWI, was named oriental secretary to the British High Commission in Iraq. She spoke several languages fluently, including Persian and Arabic and was an expert on Arab affairs and Middle Eastern politics. She created detailed maps of the country that would become Iraq, wrote travel books, served as an intelligence agent, was instrumental in creating present-day Iraq, maneuvered to put King Faisal on the throne of the new kingdom of Iraq, became an accomplished historian and archaeologist, and founded the first museum for antiquities in Baghdad.

All this she achieved while facing the obstacles and prejudices of being a woman in a man's world. She enjoyed a challenge and defied all social customs for women of her day. Being a woman was both her greatest asset and her biggest barrier in a lifetime of unusual ambition. She found women insufferably dull, and at parties she would head straight for where the men were gathered discussing important topics. Needless to say, she offended the wives and annoyed the men wherever she went. Yet she had a unique ability to endear herself or make herself indispensable to all levels of male Arab society. As a woman, she understood the subtleties of the culture, which were crucial to political success. This ability enabled her to build relationships with the people, helped her reach her goals, and gave her an important advantage over her team members.

Unfortunately, what should be a lively and exciting account of one woman's incredible achievements is impeded by Wallach's dry, tedious, academic prose. Though the book's academic tone might seem to lend credibility, Wallach's level of research itself seems questionable and not as thorough as her subject deserves. While Desert Queen offers biographical information on a praiseworthy woman and an important perspective on the situation in the Middle East, it should not be considered a definitive work for either or an afternoon's light reading. Put on your hip boots, Myrtle. The slogging is heavy.

Very comprehensive and detailed account of an extroardinary woman whose influence still shapes the Middle East today.

I enjoyed learning of this part of the story of the Arab revolt, as well as something about Ms. Bell's life and activities, and for those reasons I appreciate Ms. Wallach's efforts in producing this book. On the other hand, I found her repeated and gratuitous belittlements of T.E. Lawrence, and her attempts to diminish his work and achievements in order to promote Ms. Bell's stature and significance, annoying. Combined with her tendency to gush over her subject's behaviour, accomplishments, and daily life, it left me feeling that I could only consider the work to be suggestive, rather than authoritative, and that I would have to independently verify anything of importance that I found in her narrative. This seems to me a pity, since the main advantage of a historical or biographical work would seem, to me, to be making unnecessary or redundant such labour for potential readers.

As has been mentioned by others, I too wonder at the literary excesses of this book. "She sensed his profound hunger....". "....her heart pounding, her cheeks burning hot, and as his blue eyes burned with desire, he took her in his arms".
Gertrude Bell, an outstanding woman, deserves a better, a more maturely written biography. Thankfully, they are out there.

I began to read this book with anticipation. I was a put off by the sort of breathless tone more worthy of a bad romance novel.

About twenty pages in, I was surprised by a reference to the Ottoman Empire expanding since the 13th century from Constantinople. The Ottoman Empire expanded around Constantinople from the 13th to the 15th centuries, until they finally took the city in 1453, and promptly renamed it Istanbul.

I soldiered on, until I was informed that British were fighting Germans in the Boer war in the late 1890s. The Boers, descended from Dutch colonists, would have been surprised to hear themselves described as German.

These two mistakes, obvious to anyone with a decent knowledge of history, ruined my willingness to accept anything else in the book. I put down the book, never knowing if Miss Bell was able to overcome her lost early love.

Gertrude Bell's life seems to be worthy of a good biography. This isn't it.

A book which skilfully interweaves historical facts with the anecdotes and day-to-day life of a woman struggling to find her place in the Middle East.
Was left with a sense of awe from her accomplishments and the beginnings of an inkling as to the political and religious turmoil and troubles of this region based on the history retold by Janet Wallach.

I only wish George W and Chaney would have read this book before entering into War with Iraq. The history of British rule and their failure to solve the Tribal problems at the establishment of Iraq as a new State after the breakup of the Otterman Empire. This only proves that History can repeat itself.

I only wish George W and Chaney would have read this book before entering into War with Iraq. The history of British rule and their failure to solve the Tribal problems at the establishment of Iraq as a new State after the breakup of the Otterman Empire. This only proves that History can repeat itself.

Yes, I would venture to say that anyone who reads this book as well as Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" would be better qualified to shape US foreign policy in the Middle East than those who are now doing that... When will we ever learn?

Yes, I would venture to say that anyone who reads this book as well as Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" would be better qualified to shape US foreign policy in the Middle East than those who are now doing that... When will we ever learn?

This book is a great read--helps to understand the tribal origins in the Middle East and presents an amazing woman.

Excellent book - why have they not made a movie of Gertrude Bell's story?

I was given this book to read this past summer and was fascinated. It is the story of an incredible woman for her time, or for ours. She shaped present day Iraq and understood the problems of trying to govern such a country. This book should be read, not only by all women but also by all Americans. It was the chosen book for my Christmas giving .

Excellent book - why have they not made a movie of Gertrude Bell's story?

I was given this book to read this past summer and was fascinated. It is the story of an incredible woman for her time, or for ours. She shaped present day Iraq and understood the problems of trying to govern such a country. This book should be read, not only by all women but also by all Americans. It was the chosen book for my Christmas giving .

Bell was an incredible, fearless woman who made herself an expert on the Middle East and then ended up working for the British government. She was involved in the creation of Iraq after WWI. Great glimpse into the early 1900's in terms of the history of the middle east, women's roles, and creation of a nation-state.

Bell was an incredible, fearless woman who made herself an expert on the Middle East and then ended up working for the British government. She was involved in the creation of Iraq after WWI. Great glimpse into the early 1900's in terms of the history of the middle east, women's roles, and creation of a nation-state.

When Gertrude Bell was helping draw the lines for what is now present day Iraq it was about oil then and it's about oil now. Anyone wanting to understand a little bit about the culture of the Middle East should read this. A very interesting book about the female "Lawrence of Arabia."

This is an interesting book, the most popular biography of one of the most interesting people of the early part of the last century. Gertrude Bell is largely lost to history, which is a shame. She was an expert on Arab affairs and Middle Eastern politics, a true polymath back when you could be such a thing. She spoke numerous languages, wrote "travel" books (accounts of travels she'd had in exotic places), was an accomplished historian and archaeologist, and worked during World War I as what amounted to an intelligence agent, serving further as an advisor after the war, liasing with the Arabs in Iraq. In addition to all of the above, she mapped out the boundaries of the country that became Iraq, and late in life founded the first museum for antiquities in Baghdad. All this in a man's world, where women weren't supposed to venture.

This is a good book on most of the subject, though Wallach's understanding of the events surrounding Miss Bell is sometimes a bit weak. She also proves tone deaf with regards to British society and its niceties, portraying Bell's relationship with T.E. Lawrence ("of Arabia") as somewhat unlikely because he was from a "lower middle class" family while hers was of a much higher level. In reality, Lawrence was the illegitimate son of an impoverished Irish Baronet (certainly not lower middle class) while her family were newly wealthy (her grandfather and father mined coal and smelted iron and steel) and therefor likely to be looked down upon by those with titles. Despite these faux pas, the book is generally interesting, and conveys a sense of Bell's influence in the aftermath of World War I, when she was considered by some to be the most important woman, and one of the most important people, in the administration of the British Empire. I recommend this book.

This book was chosen for discussion by a member of our non-fiction book group. Along with other courses intended for continued learning, the group is affiliated with a local college. I would not have been interested in this book otherwise, because I had never heard of Gertrude Bell.
However,I found the book fascinating. Gertude Bell was an unusual woman for her time,educated at Oxford and extremely independent with a forceful personality. She traveled by camel through the deserts, becoming friendly with Arab leaders while exploring, mapping and finding artifacts for a museum she established.
Incorporated into the British administration in the Middle East, she held much power. She influenced Churchill and others when decisions were being made about the way Middle Eastern countries were to be run after World War I. She was instrumental in establishing Faisal I as king of Iraq.
A lot of the book covers her personal life which, on the whole, was unhappy and drove her to seek adventure away from England
This would be a good book for our politicians to read as it covers much of the history of the Middle East and describes the factions and feuds over the centuries that influence conditions to-day.

In searching for some background on middle east history, I happened upon this work. The times were so much different than today, at least in the western world.

This work does get a bit bogged down in Miss Bell's personal life, but does a decent job of relating her life and times to the happenings in the yet-to-be-established Iraq.

For a first time study of the region, it's as good a read as any. I too, as others have mentioed, would have liked a bit more solid (meaty) history.

Her approach, learning, through personal interaction, tribe histories and notables, is still very applicable (and perhaps missing) today.

Wallach's biography of Gertrude Bell is an excellent read. It offers an intimate picture of Bell, the woman, the intellectual, the adventurer, and the political strategist. Desert Queen offers an outstanding historical and political background of the Post-WWI period of Iraq and the Middle East revealing that the political issues and concerns that confront Iraq today are similar to those which confronted Mesopotamia and Iraq in the early 20th c. This book along with Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence and Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger are must reads for those interested in Middle East history, culture and politics.

This seems petty but the author kept using the verb "munch". I picture her at the keyboard writing during her breakfast. Other than that, a pretty good biography. I would have liked to see more history of IRAQ covered in order to give the reader more of a context for this portion of history.

One of the best books I have ever read. Not only was this a story of an amazing woman, but also an incredible history lesson. A must read for anyone who is intrigued by this part of the world in the days of Lawrence of Arabia.

Gertrude Bell was astounding in her grasp of policies and protocol which allowed her entre into a world denied (even Arab) women. I found myself imagining that I'd read twenty pages, only to discover that I'd turned only three: the book is over-written and tedious. As other reviewers were, I was annoyed that thoughts and private meetings to which the author was not privy, were portrayed as factual accounts.

I do think Ms. Wallach did a tremendous amount of research, but WHERE WERE HER EDITORS? I so hope another author will address Ms. Bell's life in the near future: it deserves better.

The book offers a valuable insight into the British involvement in Mesopotamia, today's Iraq, through the life of a remarkable woman who served as a senior colonial officer, and their nation-building strategy which resonates eerily with today's ideology dominating the US and UK occupation of Iraq. Gertrude Bell, a product of Victorian England, is accurately, though at times romantically, presented as a fearless individual who ironically discovers her true self and value in a region which relegated women to second-class citizens.

Just a few notes to add to the reviews already listed. The author seems to feel threatened by T. H. Lawrence . . . as if his success was Gertrude Bell's failure. I was stunned upon reading her causual dismisal of Lawrence's contributions to the war effort. On page 202 of her work, the reader is left with the impression that Lawrence was nothing more than a slack-jawed lackey who "with the help from the American writer Lowell Thomas . . . was camel-riding the path to fame, but Gertrude deliberately turned her back on publicity." Anyone with even a remote knowledge of Lawerence's exploits (and I admit that his accomplishments can take on a larger-than-life role in history) can't help but wonder over the skewed Lawrence references. Almost every reference concerning him comes across as diminutive . . . resulting in poor scholarship that leaves the rest of the work wanting. Let the buyer beware! (I actually meant to put 'two-stars' . . . my bad).

This is one of those biographies that doesn't do justice to its subject. Bell seems to have been a major player in the Middle East in the 20's during the establishment of Iraq. She certainly was the only woman on the scene who was a major player. This situation should have made for a much more interesting book. Ms Wallach chose to spend way too much time on Ms. Bell's social life, her fashions, her smoking so much, and her rather dismal love life. The result is a very unsatisfying book. Ms. Wallach also over and over writes about things that she could not have possibly know, ie "she smiled inwardly" while upacking her suitcase alone in her room ??????

Finally, one is left with wondering just how much Ms. Bell actually contributed to the process in Iraq. The cover mentions her being a colleqgue of T.E. Lawrence, but the book doesn't mention him much. She did have a lot of meetings though.

Maybe I'm just upset over this whole Iraq thing today which has resulted in great part because of Ms. Bell and her British contemporaries setting up such an artifical state in Iraq in the first palce. Why are we celebrating that ?

Sure explains why we are bogged down in Iraq. History repeats itself. A fascinating story. Tells the story of how & why Iraq and other Middle East countries came to be. Hard to believe that it all wasn't that long ago. Doesn't anyone in the White House or Pentagon read?

This book should be required reading for all students of affairs in the Middle East, as well as for students of the great pageant of the British Empire. Here is the story of the remarkable woman who helped create modern Iraq.

Gertrude Bell was brilliant, gifted in languages, and ferociously brave. Ms. Bell travelled across deserts, climbed mountains, made contributions to archeology, served as an important intelligence source and an unusual diplomat, smoked in public, and sat as an equal with many fierce desert chieftains.

Her understanding of the Arabic people was sounder in many ways than the mystical nonsense of Lawrence of Arabia, a much better known figure.

I cannot call this a great book, for Janet Wallach is less than a great writer, but this is a good book on an important and neglected subject. Wallach brings us many interesting details of Gertrude Bell's extraordinary life.

When I read this book, I had never before heard of Gertrude Bell. This book is also the only thing I have read about her, so my opinion of the job this book does in presenting her life (in comparison to other works) is limited. Although the book is very detailed (some parts were a little hard to get thru...) I overall thought it was well written. I did not find it lame at all!

I greatly enjoyed this book! Some call her the female version of Lawrence of Arabia. Her life was a grand adventure in many ways. She was intelligent, college educated, and fluent in many languages. She refused to conform to what was expected of a typical Victorian woman, and went off boldly traveling. She became an expert on Arabia, even traveling into areas where no white man had gone, let alone a white woman!

Her first-hand expertise on Arabia landed her a job with the British government during WWI. Although as a woman she got no credit (your average person has never even heard of her!) - the information and analysis she provided guided much of the policy that was developed on Arabia. She herself drew the map that divvied up Arabia into countries. (Hmm...she is really responsible for some of the problems that exist over there.) She attended the Cairo Conference in Egypt after the war. And had much to do with the formation of Iraq. In fact, she is sometimes called the "uncrowned Queen of Iraq".

However, her life was also very tragic. One of the only men she ever truly loved - her father refused to grant his permission for her to marry him. This devastated her, and the man actually died soon after this refusal. She was lonely... Often isolated, and discriminated against in various ways because she was a woman in a government position. She was also an atheist with no spiritual faith to guide or help her. In the end, she committed suicide. A tragic end to a life that was truly a bold and grand adventure!