Turning away from the privileged world of the "eminent
Victorians," Gertrude Bell (1868—1926) explored, mapped, and
excavated the world of the Arabs. 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 wit 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.