Gertrude Bell's Moment in the Middle East

A Reappraisal

AvLiora Lukitz

Häftad, Engelska, 2026

Del i serien I.B. Tauris

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Beskrivning

An explorer, archaeologist, scholar, writer, and policymaker, Gertude Bell was a colourful figure who played an outsize role in the history of the Middle East in the early twentieth century.This book carefully examines Bell’s published and unpublished letters, diaries, notes, and publications to reconstruct and reevaluate Bell’s intentions and legacy in the Middle East in the aftermath of the First World War. It focuses on her correspondence with senior figures to examine the well-networked Bell as a policymaker in waiting.It also reappraises Bell's role in the formation of the Kingdom of Iraq, assessing her public statements in support of Faisal, Iraq's future king, against the doubts regarding “Britain’s mission” in the region as she previously understood the colonial enterprise. Centering her own experience and reflections in the context of wider events, this book adds nuance to perceptions of Bell as a one-sided agent of the British Empire and explores the legacy of her actions in Iraq and the West-Middle East relations today.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-09-17
Mått:156 x 234 x 13 mm
Vikt:355 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Serie:I.B. Tauris
Antal sidor:248
Förlag:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN:9780755655502

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Mer om författaren

Liora Lukitz holds a PhD from LSE and an award from the H.F. Guggenheim Foundation that made possible the publication of three books and many articles. She is also the author of A Quest in the Middle East: Gertrude Bell and the Making of Modern Iraq (I.B. Tauris, 2006) and the upcoming title Ancient History and Technology, New Concepts of Communication (2025)

Recensioner i media

This thought-provoking study is by an experienced scholar of Iraq and of Gertrude Bell’s life. Now Dr. Lukitz reappraises and refines her analysis of both the region and Bell’s contradictions and significance for history and historians. Her writing is fortified by focusing on rich, untapped miscellaneous documents within Bell’s archive alongside uncensored family correspondence. This makes compelling reading.

Innehållsförteckning

Preface IntroductionNotes on secondary sources Chapter 1: Documents, links to the past. Gertrude Bell, a life story Miscellaneous, ReflectionsChapter 2 Biography as ArtA look into Gertrude Bell’s inner worldChapter 3: Gertrude Bell, Explorer. ‘Wind and dust, a little rain...’Ukhaydir, uncertainties The vaulting system, continuities Tours and impressions and a new book Amurath to AmurathKarbala Baghdad SamarraQal‘at Sharqat Mount Sinjar and LalishTur ‘Abdin, Mountain of the Servants of GodCarchemish With Koldewey in Babylon Chapter 4: Ha’yl Journeys The Blunts’ Pilgrimage to the Nejd Ha’yl, Gertrude Bell's landmark journey Baghdad, shifting timesChapter 5: Gertrude Bell, Analyst: The Arab QuestionKut al-‘Amara The Peace Conference: on the sidelinesPalestine, Syria, and the Arab Bureau“Syria in October 1919”, encountersFrom Mesopotamia to al-Iraq, unfolding realities. Chapter 6: Gertrude Bell, The ReviewSir Percy and the Gulf, strategies and connections The Shi‘i areas in the Review The Kurdish areas in the ReviewAdministrative issues Chapter 7: Gertrude Bell, Policy Maker A matter of policy or administration? Uncertainties, Gertrude Bell and Lord Hardinge The Cairo Conference and the “Forty Thieves’: Schemes and RealitiesKing Faysal's parallel roads to Independence The Karbala Conference, ‘incomplete’ Chapter 8: The Ango- Iraqi Treaty, Texts and Subtexts The Shi‘i mujtahids and the elections Subtexts unravelling The Mosul Question: Wheat, tobacco, and oil Chapter 9: Past Uncertainties and Certainties ‘Desert Queen’, or a ‘Daughter of Empire’? Archeology, as a quest Archeology and Nationalism The Mysteries of Ur Hatra Chapter 10: ‘Desert Queen’, or a ‘Daughter of the Empire’?Certainties and uncertainties in retrospect The Arab movement , years on With Lord Hardinge and Percy Loraine, the full picture in reverse Judging Bell from today’s perspectiveThe ‘Invention of Tradition’, In a reverse Logic of Things Impressions on ‘Gertrude Bell’s Moment inIraq’ by leading Iraqi Personalities . Bell, Education and al- Jamali’s New Iraq