Gertrude Bell: The Arabian Diaries, 1913-1914Rosemary O'Brien The Englishwoman Gertrude Bell lived an extraordinary life. Her adventures are the stuff of novels: she rode with bandits; braved desert shamals; was captured by Bedouins; and sojourned in a harem. Called the most powerful woman in the British Empire, she counseled kings and prime ministers. Bell’s colleagues included Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, who in 1921 invited Bell—the only woman whose advice was sought—to the Cairo Conference to “determine the future of Mesopotamia.” Bell numbered among her closest friends T.E. Lawrence, St. John Philby, and Arabian sheiks. In this volume of three of her notebooks, Rosemary O’Brien preserves Bell’s elegant, vibrant prose, and presents Bell as a brilliant tactician fearlessly confronting her own vulnerability. The fundamental themes of her life—reckless behavior; a divided self which combined brilliance of intellect with a passionate nature; a sense of history; and the fatal gift of falling in love with a married man—are all here in remarkable detail. Her journey to northern Arabia in 1914 earned Bell professional recognition from the Royal Geographical Society, and solidified her reputation as a canny political analyst of Middle Eastern affairs. In addition to Bell’s own photographs, O’Brien has provided us an unprecedented first access to excerpts of the Bell/Richard Doughty-Wyllie love letters, the married British army officer with whom she was in love and for whom her diaries were written. |
Contents
Gertrude Bells Itinerary 19131914 | 38 |
A Diaries 19131914 | 137 |
B Ibrahims Daftar | 245 |
Works Cited | 253 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abd al Aziz Adwan al Rashid Allah Amir Anazeh Arab Arabia Audeh Awwad Ba'ir Baghdad bearing bedouin Bell's called camel riders camels camp Charles Doughty-Wylie Circassian coffee crossed Damascus desert Doughty-Wylie dulul Fattuh fear February G. B. to D-W Ga'rah Gertrude Bell Ghadi ghazzu Govt Hajj Hamad Harb Hayyil hills Howaitat ibn al Rashid Ibn Rashid Ibn Sa'ud Ibrahim khabra killed looked lunch March Mashkhur Mit'ab morning Muhammad Musuid Nefud Nejd Nejef Newcastle upon Tyne night Photograph by Gertrude qasr rafiq raid rain ride ridge rifle road rode round ruined Ruwalla Sa'id Salim sand sandstone Sayyah sent shaikh Shammar Sherarat Sherari slave Slubba stones Sukhur T. E. Lawrence talked tell tents told took tribes Turkish Turkiyyeh University of Newcastle valley Wadi walked walls wind woman women