Thursday, August 30, 2012

Desert Queen - Janet Wallach


Sub-title: The extraordinary life of Gertrude Bell: Advenurer, Advisor to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia.

After the Iraq wars of the past decade and Iran terror, learning the background of this part of the world provided context for the feelings of the people of this region toward the Western World.

The arrogance of England as a ruler of the world and the belief in mainfest destiny is well illustrated in the main character and her co-workers in the English diplomatic corps.

I enjoyed reading about a woman adventurer.  Her intellect was powerful: she spoke multiple languages (English, French, German, Arabic) and her love of working was evident. She was skillful at bringing people together to resolve their differences and worked  to create Arab nations out of warring tribes and people of different religions.  Its also revealed how the desire for oil was the catalyst for the western world to establish control in the region.  There is a lot of discussion of the details of her travels  and

Published: 1996  Read:  8/2012  Genre: History

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