I loved learning more about the tribes that roamed Persia and Mesopotamia and the formation of Iraq. You can tell the author did some really great research (just as Bell did), even though much of the issues and facts are written from a flawed early 19th Century perspective. Of course, this is the world of Gertrude Bell herself..i just thought the reader would benefit from somehow incorporating a fresher contemporary perspective that is less one-sided. I love the imperfection in her. This book does well to portray her in the best light, but you can't help but notice the pervasiveness of her flaws. Stubborn, yet sometimes indecisive, easily depressed and never quite emotionally in touch with the world. Separate, snobbish, and often petty, Gertrude represented many negative stereotypes of a Victorian woman. However, the differences are much more noticeable. This book was a great complement to my reading of Korda’s wonderful biography Lawrence, “Hero”. I can now see the truth to one characterization of Bell being the brains behind Lawrence’s initiatives. Bell also appeared for me as a colorful presence in Mary Doria Russell’s novel of an Ohio housewife on the scene at the Cairo Conference, “Dreamers of the Day.” Now I have a more complete story. This book also puts more of a human and cultural perspective on the picture of Middle Eastern history I got from Yergin’s massive and masterful history of oil, “The Prize”. Thus, this was a worthy read to help cure a person’s ignorance on how the current problems in the Middle East got set in motion. But it was most satisfying as a portrait of a strong, ambitious woman and its revelations of the core of her humanity and apparent paradoxes of character. I don’t know if the other biographies of her are of equal or better caliber or if the movie of her life starring Nicole Kidman has any virtues. To make the St Clement’s jelly, soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes to soften. Using a vegetable peeler, peel 6 strips from a lemon and 6 strips from an orange and put these into a saucepan with the sugar and 400ml/ 14fl oz water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and discard the peel. Squeeze the water out of the gelatine and stir into the pan until dissolved then leave to cool. Squeeze the lemons and oranges, so you have 150ml/5fl oz of both lemon and orange juice. Stir into the pan then strain the jelly through a fine sieve into a jug and chill until cool but not set. Various early trips she took, such as to Constantinople and Tehran, helped spur her interest in Middle Eastern cultures and archeology and to speak and read Persian, Arabic, and Turkish. She met Lawrence, as well as her future boss in the spy business, Hogarth at a dig in Mesopotamia. Her forays into the desert led her to befriend the leaders of diverse Beduoin tribes, sheikhs, and princes of the vast territories. Despite her being an unveiled woman with the wrong religion, they received her surprisingly well. She somehow charmed them with her boldness and brilliant mind, in effect as an honorary man. The exception was her brief imprisonment by a prince of the Rashid clan which controlled the Hejaz region of the future Saudi Arabia flanking the Red Sea. In all she made six trips over 12 years and wrote five books ranging among the topics of ancient cultures, architecture, and translations of Persian poetry.

I relate to Gertrude's quest to become a "Person", someone who matters. It's unfortunate because I don't think that feeling ever lasted for her. But if anyone was ever a Person in the Middle East, it was her. Meghan wrote: "Oh, how I love the ritual of cooking. Baking…not so much. There’s something about the technicality of it that stifles my inner rebel; no dash of this or extra spoonful of that. There’s a science to baking and the measurements matter ever so much. McNary, Dave (November 1, 2016). "AFM: Nicole Kidman's 'Queen of the Desert' Sells to IFC". Variety . Retrieved November 1, 2016. Earlier this year, Fortnum & Mason challenged the UK to create a recipe fulfilling the criteria of being fit for a queen. Requirements included a memorable story, the perfect taste and a recipe simple enough for home bakers. A woman of remarkable self assertiveness, vanity and, apparently, a vivacity of mind appealing to Arab men as a sort of non-female female, she made friends with sheiks wherever she went -- and developed a nearly unique knowledge, among the English, of the personalities and geography of Mesopotamia. Thus she was given an official position with the British government when, after WWI, it found itself in possession of territories of the defeated and collapsed Ottoman Empire.Nicole Kidman's 'Queen of the Desert' Nabbed by Atlas Distribution". Hollywood Reporter. May 12, 2015 . Retrieved May 12, 2015. I was really looking forward to reading about this fiercely independent, intelligent, and visionary woman who made her own place in the world. While all of this is true and I respect it, I deeply question her (Britain's) motives for "helping" the Iraqi people and can't exactly relate to her as I thought I would because she sometimes comes off as too rich, spoiled, or severely egotistical. Gertrude Bell, a daughter of wealthy British parents, has no interest in the social life of the London elite. Balls, receptions, and a life of privilege bring her only boredom. Aspiring to some usefulness in her life, Gertrude decides to join her uncle, who occupies a high diplomatic position in Tehran. There the young lady not only encounters the Near East but also falls in love with an embassy employee, Henry Cadogan. However, their romance does not last long as her parents consider the young man a poor matrimonial choice for their daughter and forbid the marriage. Devastated, Henry dies by suicide, unable to renounce his true love. For the remainder of her life Gertrude Bell completely devotes herself to exploring and writing about the Near East and her knowledge of the tribal leaders is used by the British to establish the Kingdoms of Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

A random find at the local Goodwill, I had been meaning to read a biography when I saw this book. I wasn't quite sure how interested I would be in Gertrude Bell, but she ended up speaking me to me very clearly. Damian Lewis Visits the White House and Learns Obama Watches 'Homeland' ". ABC News . Retrieved December 2, 2013.James Henry Mills in Stourbridge said his pudding of choice would be Eton mess. “Let’s face it, our current political situation is a mess,” said the 77-year-old retiree. “The PM is an Eton boy and Eton tends to churn out our leaders who over the years have made a right mess of things.” Few women in all of history have ever had so much power -- and made such a mess. Wallach is fond of her subject but the vanity, audacity and incompetence show through in this meticulous exploration of how a sad, romantic young woman became the pivotal authority in shaping the modern Middle East. Obscure by her own wish, Bell is virtually unknown compared to her ally T.E. Lawrence, but her ultimate effect was far greater. All in all, I'm glad I read this. I learned a lot and would certainly recommend it to others interested in the history of the area, but would urge that the reader take it "with a bit of salt." If ever get the nerve up again, I'd consider reading some of the other biographies that exist on Bell for comparison and definitely some histories on the area from an arab perspective.

I'm pretty sure Herzog was wanting to make an old'fashion epic with a strong leading lady. The problem here is that the screenplay is just deadly boring and none of the emotions the film works for are ever gotten. There's no romance, no drama, no comedy. There's really nothing here to be connected to and you basically just sit there wondering how such a film could go so wrong. At 128-minutes the film really drags in spots and it's just a real shame that the end result was so bland. To make the Swiss rolls, preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease and line the 2 Swiss roll tins with baking paper. In a large bowl, beat the egg and sugar together with an electric hand whisk for approximately 5 minutes or until light and pale. Using a metal spoon, gently fold in the flour. Divide between the two tins and bake for 10–12 minutes or until the sponges are lightly golden and cooked through. I don't really feel i 'know' Bell after readings this, I know of her existence and facts but ultimately not what drove her.Gertrude was amazing because her politics were always personal. She put so much of herself into the work she was doing, it was hard to separate her politics from her personality. To me, this can be ideal, but at the same time it can unravel a human being, as we see with Gertrude. As her political prominence begins to fade, her purpose in life became less and less clear for her. She had nothing outside of Iraq. QUEEN OF THE DESERT isn't as awful as some people have made it out to be but at the same time you can't help but call it a complete misfire on many levels. I think the majority of the blame has to go to Herzog's screenplay because this is a film about one of the most interesting women in the world and yet there's nothing interesting about her told here. For the life of me I can't figure out why this film only looks at her love life and outside of some narration, we'd never know what made her special. Kudos to Janet Wallach for sparing no blushes and giving a very engaging portrait of her, that allows us to see the full picture and the full impact of her actions and beliefs, an impact that that is felt today in the 21st century.

As Oxford had been a school for her mind, Romania would be a school for her manners. Corseted in whalebone and steel, pulled into an elaborate decollete gown, she learned how to flirt with her ostrich fan, puff on her cigarette and dine on caviar and champagne, to refrain from biting her hands (a family habit) and from twirling her bangs around her finger and to keep from blurting out everything that came into her head. Her love of the middle east defined her, her travels into it made her (in)famous and her general attitude of i can, i want and i will make it happen garnered her some enemies along the way.To simplify this recipe, you can use ready-made versions for most of the components and just make the Swiss rolls and mandarin coulis from scratch. So much of Gertrude Bell's work happened behind the scenes, and there is a sad dichotomy in this story between her authoritative, dynamic personality and the way that her colleagues both relied on her knowledge but also disdained her influence, took credit for her ideas, and tried to keep her on the periphery of the action because she was a woman. Of course, if she'd been a man that may still have been the case - T.E. Lawrence was treated the same way, at least until after the war. But she persevered. She wasn't trained to be a diplomat - because she was a woman, she wasn't expected to be anything. And yet she became a revered figure among many of her Arab contemporaries and became chief adviser to Faisal. Her idea of Iraq may seem like a naive folly now, or just more British imperialism, but at least it came from an enlightened view of Arab self-rule. Her long treks into the vast deserts of Arabia, Syria and Iraq were at great risk: Risk of starvation, risk of calamity, risk of robbery and risk of imprisonment. With a changing group of servants, camel drivers and guards, she was always at the mercy of the various tribes. But she must have been a provocative and attractive sight for each sheikh. She had no need of a translator. Smoking tobacco with one, taking bitter tiny cups of coffee with another, eating lamb and rice with her fingers with a third (and not refusing the delicacy of a sheep’s eyeball if offered), Bell paid attention to and gained friendship from the etiquette that is so fundamental to any relationship in this region. By 1920, Britain and France came to an agreement: “Arabia would remain as it was, an independent peninsula, though it would be guided by the British. Syria, including Lebanon, would be mandated to France; Mesopotamia (including Palestine) would be mandated to Britain; in both cases until such time as they ‘could stand on their own.’” They two powers would share in the exploration and development of petroleum. They must have thought they were paying attention to George Santayana’s admonition: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” But it certainly looks inevitable from the perspective of the 21st Century. However, Gertrude Bell was a truly amazing person and that saved this book. What a fascinating life she led, in such fascinating times. I loved the second half of the book because it dealt as much with the "drawing lines in the sand" part of organizing the modern Middle East as it did with GB.