{"product_id":"gertrude-bell-queen-of-the-desert-shaper-of-nations-first-american-edition-9780374161620","title":"Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert  Shaper of Nations (First American Edition)","description":"\u003cp\u003eA marvelous tale of an adventurous life of great historical import She has been called the female Lawrence of Arabia  which  while not inaccurate  fails to give Gertrude Bell her due. She was at one time the most powerful woman in the British Empire: a nation builder  the driving force behind the creation of modern-day Iraq. Born in 1868 into a world of privilege  Bell turned her back on Victorian society  choosing to read history at Oxford and going on to become an archaeologist  spy  Arabist  linguist  author (of Persian Pictures  The Desert and the Sown  and many other collections)  poet  photographer  and legendary mountaineer (she took off her skirt and climbed the Alps in her underclothes).  She traveled the globe several times  but her passion was the desert  where she traveled with only her guns and her servants. Her vast knowledge of the region made her indispensable to the Cairo Intelligence Office of the British government during World War I. She advised the Viceroy of India; then  as an army major  she traveled to the front lines in Mesopotamia. There  she supported the creation of an autonomous Arab nation for Iraq  promoting and manipulating the election of King Faisal to the throne and helping to draw the borders of the fledgling state. Gertrude Bell  vividly told and impeccably researched by Georgina Howell  is a richly compelling portrait of a woman who transcended the restrictions of her class and times  and in so doing  created a remarkable and enduring legacy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67600676847669,"sku":"ByrdShop_0374161623","price":31.76,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780374161620.jpg?v=1790978020","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/gertrude-bell-queen-of-the-desert-shaper-of-nations-first-american-edition-9780374161620","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}