Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations by Georgina HowellMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
What a woman! What she accomplished in her lifetime as a Person (a reference to an inside joke in her family), was just remarkable. For all her joie de vivre, she experienced so much personal sadness and the lack of a life partner was something she never got over. Anyone interested in the complicated and nuanced history of the Middle East will find this book useful. Another book to read as an accompanying text would be Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan, which sets the background the resolution of the end of WWI, the stage for WWII, the problems in the Middle East with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
