108 JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY

Georgina Howell. Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations. New York: Ferrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. pp. 481. Georgina Howell begins her biography of Gertrude Bell by telling us that Bell is, quite simply, her hero. Not surprisingly, this is an uncritical biography of an extraordinary woman. It is popular history at its most fascinating. Howell, a British fashion journalist and biographer of Princess Diana, knows how to write a page turner. While my kids were devouring the latest Harry Potter, I was devouring this latest biography of Gertrude Bell (there have been at least ten others). Howells admiration for Bell is unrestrained: she loves the way she dressed, with a pistol strapped to her calf under her silk petticoats, and how she had her desert table laid with linen tablecloths and set with polished silver. She notes that Bell was at one time more famous than Lawrence of Arabia. In The English Patient, when maps drawn by Bell are brought out, a British soldier comments, Lets hope that he was right. Howell observes that Bell would not have cared that her work was mistaken for a mans. Born in 1868, Gertrude Bell was from a wealthy family that had risen over three generations to the upper middle class but remained outside the exclusive circles of British society. She was a brilliant student and was able to attend Oxford, where she excelled. She learned Persian and Arabic and was a gifted translator. She was a world traveler, a poet, a linguist, an explorer, an archeologist, a historian, a photographer, a gardener, a cartographer, a rock climber, a major in the British army, a philanthropist, a founder of a museum and library, an administrator, and a public servant. She was, as we say these days, multitalentedoutrageously multitalented. Bell was partly responsible for drawing the borders of what became modern Iraq following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and for installing Faisal ibn Hussein, who had never set foot in Iraq, as its king. Howell even puts her in the same category as Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great and asserts that Bell was loved not only by
Nancy Gallagher, review of Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations, by Georgina Howell, Journal of Historical Biography 2 (Autumn 2007): 108-114, www.ucfv.ca/jhb. Journal of Historical Biography 2007. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 3.0 License.

REVIEWS 109

her family, but by the people of Arabia. When she states, by way of proof, that Bells name and her work for Iraq were recently reinstated in that countrys school curricula, she does not mention that the revised textbooks were written by agencies under contract to the U.S. occupation forces. In Howells view, Bell cajoled and intruded, guided and engineered, and finally delivered the often promised and nearly betrayed prize of independence. [and] left behind a benevolent and effective Iraq government, functioning without institutionalized corruption and intent on equality and peace. In days when Empire and colonialism are dirty words, she adds, Britain has little to be ashamed of in the establishment of Iraq... (xvii-xviii) Howell goes on to comment that the dynasty Bell put into place in Iraq lasted for thirty-two years, while Europe plunged into war after only thirteen. She tells us very little about the widespread revolts or the ruthless British repression that followed the imposition of the Hashemite king or about the thwarted hopes of Iraqi nationalists. Bell helped create the country that fills our daily news and left behind an extensive correspondence, a diary kept over many years, a series of position papers, and eight books. She led an incredible life and documented it well. In short, Gertrude Bell is a biographers dream. In a critical review of a biography of Mark Twain, Christopher Hitchens once commented that there are five cardinal rules in writing biography. First, the biographer should make us want to have known the person in question, or at least to get to know the person better through reading about his or her life. Second, the reader does not need to be burdened with the mundane details of everyday life that do not tell what makes the subject of the biography special. Third, the biographer should place the subjects life in its historical context; we need to learn about the times to understand the life in question. And so much the better if we can more thoroughly understand the times through the life story. Fourth, the biographer should allow his subject to be his or her quirky self and not a reflection of the correspondence or reminiscences of

110 JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY

others. Fifth, the biographer should improve on earlier biographies of the subject through the discovery of new sources, the correction of earlier accounts, or simply better writing. Does Howells biography of Gertrude Bell surpass earlier ones? Howell recounts the famous meeting in Cairo, in which Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill, T.E. Lawrence, and Gertrude Bell redesigned the map of the Middle East. While the Republic of Turkey rose from the ashes of the defeated empire, the Arabs, who fought on the winning side, bitterly found themselves under the tutelage of Britain and France. When Britain found it too expensive and politically impossible to maintain its empire, it resorted to cheaper indirect rule. Britains installation of a foreign but proBritish monarch on the throne of a state where none had existed disappointed the hopes of Arab nationalists who had anticipated independence after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Howell asks how Bell (whom she calls Gertrude throughout the book) came to be the pivotal figure in British statesmanship in the postwar Middle East. She attributes Bells independence to her familys origin in Yorkshire, whose sturdy inhabitants had refused to submit to William the Conqueror. In great detail, Howell traces the rise of the Bell family to wealth and prominence. Through her account, the reader can learn much about the industrial revolution and the social dislocation that accompanied it. In the second chapter, Howell gives us perhaps too much information about Gertrudes early education, her family, and her travels in Europe. Still, the first three chapters could be read as a well written ethnography of elite British society. Her family disapproved of her first great love and she gave it up according to the custom of the time. Howell takes pains to explain her heros activist opposition to womens suffrage. In the years before the First World War, Howell explains (not very convincingly in my opinion), working class women were uneducated, illiterate, and overburdened with the demands of family and work. Bell believed that the responsibility of voting would be too much, and that the stridency and militancy of the suffragettes were sidelining more pressing social issues than the right to vote. Howell describes

REVIEWS 111

Bells passion for gardening, which made her an accomplished landscape architect. When Bell was in her thirties, she discovered rock climbing. She climbed peaks in the Alps and the Rockies, and in 1904 distinguished herself by climbing the Matterhorn. As a utilitarian and atheist who wanted a purposeful life, Bell enjoyed travel, but wanted to be more than a seeker of pleasure. Her adventures in the Middle East began with a sojourn in Persia. She loved the Persian desert and the rich culture and history of the region, and translated the poems of Hafiz. Her love of the desert remained with her throughout her life. She soon added Arabic to her other languages: Persian, German, French, Italian, and a bit of Hebrew and Turkish. She would typically begin her desert travels in Jerusalem, Damascus, Beirut, or Haifa, where she would organize a tour. She would hire guides, often Fattuh from Aleppo, purchase horses and camping equipment, gifts for local leaders, and extensive provisions. She gave up riding side-saddle when she discovered how much easier it was to ride astride. Howell often comments that Bell was the first woman to have traveled in a given territory, overlooking the obvious point that Arab and other local women had surely been there before. In the years before World War I, Bell spent many months traveling in what is now Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. In each town, she made a point of calling on local leaders, diplomats, and consuls and participated in its social life. She valued her local contacts and understood their political significance. She carried out extensive archeological research in the area around Najaf and Karbala and met T.E Lawrence, who seems to have impressed her. Howell writes much about Bells two failed relationships to an extent that would have surely embarrassed her. Her first love was an indebted gambler. Her second, and more emotional, entanglement was with was a married man, a war hero killed at Gallipoli in 1915. Both relationships were apparently unconsummated. After the death of the second man, Bell threw herself into volunteer work for the Red Cross Wounded and Missing Offices, which she reorganized and served with her usual dedication and distinction.

112 JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY

But now, Gertrude Bell, already well known for her travels, her scholarly achievements, and her public lectures, embarked on the adventures that make her well known today. Britain relied on amateur informants for information on local conditions in the Middle East, and few knew the area better than Gertrude Bell. She had spent nearly two years traveling in the Arabian Desert and had made many valuable acquaintances. She spoke Arabic and was familiar with local tribes, lines of patronage, and customs. The second half of Howells book deals with Bells pivotal political role. She was an unpaid employee of the Intelligence Division of the Admiralty, to which she reported on German activities in the Middle East. When she photographed archeological sites she also noted military installations. As a courtesy, she was given the rank of major, making her the first woman officer in the British military intelligence service. She worked in the British Foreign Office in Cairo and later Baghdad, which became her home. Howells account of how Bell found her Baghdad residence is especially compelling: She put on her straw hat and set out on foot to find a better house, making her way down to the cooler, treeshaded spaces by the river. She came almost at once to an old wall surrounding a large overgrown garden with cool trees and a profusion of pink roses. Peering through the iron gate she saw a stone water-tank at the end of a short drive, and beyond it, not a house, but three run-down summer houses, with birds perched on the roofs. Part of the property was an extensive date-palm garden a place where it would be cool to walk in the eveningHere was the lovely spot where she would live for the rest of her life.(275) The historical context is almost consistently pro-British. According to Howell, in 1875, the Egyptian ruler went bankrupt and was bailed out by the British, who in return demanded a Residency (an administrative division in the British Empire). This all sounds rather benign, but in fact the British occupation of Egypt was a fairly standard imperial venture, in this case to protect the Suez Canal and a key route to India and to profit from Egyptian cotton and other raw materials. Howell does remark that Bell was not

REVIEWS 113

entirely honest when she wrote that she would support any government desired by the Iraqi people. She knew who she wanted: her old acquaintance Faisal, son of the sharif of Mecca and a leader of the British-sponsored Arab Revolt. Howells detailed account of the machinations that put Faisal on the newly created throne of Iraq inadvertently shows Bell to be quite an operator. Howell asks why a beautiful and wealthy woman in her prime would want to study difficult languages, explore dangerous territory, and live in distant Muslim societies. She concludes that Bell did not want to be famous, to circulate in high society, or to coast on her wealth and family position. She wanted to exercise her curiosity, her intellect, and her need for challenge. Her early hopes for marriage and family dashed, she pursued diversionary interests. For Howell, history presented the talented Bell with the opportunity to play a role in world affairs. I would say that British imperial power and military force resulted in the creation of a country that was designed for the convenience of the imperial power rather than its inhabitants. After she had seen to Faisals coronation and founded the Iraqi museum and library, she found herself lonely and bored. She was in poor health, and the future held little for her. Howell observes that both Lawrence and Bell, who loved and respected the Arabs, knew that the British promises made to the Arabs for independence following their revolt against the Ottomans would be broken. She notes that both became despondent and preoccupied with this dilemma for the rest of their lives. She perhaps should have mentioned that both committed suicide. Does this biography, so compellingly told, pass Hitchenss five rules? Hitchens himself liked the book, but he does not seem to have read it very carefully, nor did he apply his five rules to it. Writing for the Atlantic Monthly, he states that Bell would probably have married her second great love had he not been killed at Gallipoli, glossing over the fact that the man was already married and had made clear to Bell his decision to remain in his marriage. Hitchens confidently intuits that Bell simultaneously wanted and dreaded to be rid of her virginity. How does he know that? He

114 JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY

remarks that she was rather partial to the Kurds and the Shia, though this is not to be borne out by the evidence. Applying Hitchenss five criteria, I am not sure if Howells biography makes me wish to have known Bell in person, but I might be inspired to seek out her books, and I wish I could have heard her public lectures. While Howell gives us too many details of Bells family relations and her love life, we do get a sense of what made her special. At times the historical context falters, especially in the sketchy account of the Great War and the uncritically pro-British approach. While Howell allows Bells voice to come though by frequently quoting correspondence directly, earlier biographies have done this as well. Finally, this biography adds little to what is already known: Bells papers are online and easily accessible, and Howell has relied on them heavily. She used exclusively Western sources. Iraqi public records were, of course, lost when looters burned the archives following the U.S. invasion of 2003, but there are primary and secondary source materials by Iraqis that might have led to a more nuanced account. I would say that Howell has partially succeeded in her account of Bells life and times. The next biography should add the Iraqi voices that have been missing to date. This is, however, a popular history written in an engaging and exciting style, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Nancy E. Gallagher University of California, Santa Barbara