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| Genre/Form: | Biography |
|---|---|
| Named Person: | Gertrude Lowthian Bell; Gertrude Lowthian Bell; Gertrude Lowthian Bell; Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell; Fayṣal, roi d'Irak).; Winston Churchill; Thomas Edward Lawrence |
| Material Type: | Internet resource |
| Document Type: | Book, Internet Resource |
| All Authors / Contributors: |
Liora Lukitz |
| ISBN: | 1850434158 9781850434153 |
| OCLC Number: | 53963083 |
| Description: | ix, 306 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. |
| Contents: | Part I The Journey -- 1 'Light of Mine Eyes and Harvest of My Heart' 23 -- 2 'She Had Known Ruptures, She Had Known the Whole' 31 -- 3 'The Shadow of a Stone' 56 -- 4 'I Will Dedicate This Year to You' 77 -- Part II Arrival -- 5 'On the Edge of Important Things' 107 -- 6 'Father, Think!' 125 -- 7 'To Make Kings, to Invent Kingdoms' 143 -- 8 'A Tower of Strength and Wisdom' 174 -- 9 'We Had Awakened and Become a Nation' 202 -- Part III Departures -- 10 'Dust ...' 211 -- 11 'Flood ...' 224. |
| Responsibility: | Liora Lukitz. |
| More information: |
Abstract:
"Revered or reviled, Gertrude Bell was a commanding figure: scholar, linguist, archeologist, 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 was 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 confidante 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 afterward she took her own life with a lethal dose of sleeping pills." "Using previous unseen sources, including Gertrude 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."--BOOK JACKET.
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Related Subjects:(19)
- Bell, Gertrude Lowthian, -- 1868-1926.
- Women Middle East specialists -- Biography.
- Colonial administrators -- Great Britain -- Biography.
- Iraq -- History -- 1534-1921.
- Bell, Gertrude Lowthian.
- Staat.
- Gründung.
- Irak.
- Bell, Gertrude Lowthian -- (1868-1926).
- Bell, Gertrude Margaret Lowthian -- (1868-1926).
- Fayṣal -- I -- (1885-1933; -- roi d'Irak).
- Churchill, Winston -- (1874-1965).
- Lawrence, Thomas Edward -- (1888-1935).
- Orientalistes -- Grande-Bretagne -- Biographies.
- Administrateurs coloniaux -- Grande-Bretagne -- Biographies.
- Irak -- 1534-1921.
- Grande-Bretagne -- Colonies -- Administration -- Biographies.
- Grande-Bretagne -- Relations extérieures -- Moyen-Orient -- 1900-1945.
- Moyen-Orient -- Relations extérieures -- Grande-Bretagne -- 1900-1945.
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- Gertrude Bell Bibliography(45 items)
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