This is a major re-evaluation of the life and legacy of Gertrude Lowthian Bell (1868-1926), the renowned scholar, explorer, writer, archaeologist, and British civil servant. The book examines Gertrude Bell's role in shaping British policy in the Middle East in the first part of the 20th century, her views of the cultures and peoples of the region, and her unusual position as a woman occupying a senior position in the British imperial administration. It focuses
particularly on her involvement in Iraq and the part she played in the establishment of the Iraqi monarchy and the Iraqi state.In addition, the book examines her interests in Iraq's
ancient past. She was instrumental in drawing up Iraq's first Antiquities Law in 1922 and in the foundation of the Iraq Museum in 1923.Gertrude Bell refused to be constrained by the expectations of the day, and was able to succeed in a man's world of high politics and diplomacy. She remains a controversial figure, however, especially in the context of the founding of the modern state of Iraq. Does she represent a more innocent age when the country was born out of the
remnants of the Ottoman Empire, or does she personify the attitudes and decisions that have created today's divided Middle East? The volume's authors bring new insights to these questions.
This is a major re-evaluation of the life and legacy of Gertrude Lowthian Bell (1868-1926), the renowned scholar, explorer, writer, archaeologist, and British civil servant. The book examines Gertrude Bell's role in shaping British policy in the Middle East in the first part of the 20th century, her views of the cultures and peoples of the region, and her unusual position as a woman occupying a senior position in the British imperial administration. It focuses
particularly on her involvement in Iraq and the part she played in the establishment of the Iraqi monarchy and the Iraqi state.In addition, the book examines her interests in Iraq's
ancient past. She was instrumental in drawing up Iraq's first Antiquities Law in 1922 and in the foundation of the Iraq Museum in 1923.Gertrude Bell refused to be constrained by the expectations of the day, and was able to succeed in a man's world of high politics and diplomacy. She remains a controversial figure, however, especially in the context of the founding of the modern state of Iraq. Does she represent a more innocent age when the country was born out of the
remnants of the Ottoman Empire, or does she personify the attitudes and decisions that have created today's divided Middle East? The volume's authors bring new insights to these questions.
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgements
1: Paul Collins & Charles Tripp: Introduction
Part I: Gertrude Bell and the Ottoman Empire
2: Peter Sluglett: Gertrude Bell and the Ottoman Empire
Part II: Gertrude Bell and Archaeology
3: Mark P. C. Jackson: A Critical Examination of Gertrude Bell's
Contribution to Archaeological Research in Central Asia Minor
4: Lisa Cooper: 'Better than any ruined site in the world' -
Gertrude Bell and the Ancient City of Assur
5: Rosalind Wade Haddon: What Gertrude Bell did for Islamic
Archaeology
Part III: Gertrude Bell - A Woman in a Man's World
6: Helen Berry: Gertrude Bell - Pioneer, Anti-Suffragist, Feminist
Icon?
7: Tamara Chalabi: Fragments of a Mirror: The Writing of Gertrude
Bell
Part IV: Gertrude Bell and the Making of the Iraqi State
8: Myriam Yakoubi: Gertrude Bell's Perception of Faisal I of Iraq
and the Anglo-Arab Romance
9: Saad B. Eskander: Gertrude Bell and the Formation of the Iraqi
State: The Kurdish Dimension
Part V: Gertrude Bell and Iraqi Heritage
10: Magnus T. Bernhardsson: Gertrude Bell and the Antiquities Law
of Iraq
11: Ian Johnson: Gertrude Bell and the Evolution of the Library
Tradition in Iraq
12: Lamia Al-Gailani Werr: Gertrude Bell in the Archive of the Iraq
Museum
Appendix
13: Janet E Courtney (née Hogarth) introduced by Moayad Hanoush: In
Memoriam: Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell (July 14, 1868 - July 12,
1926)
Index
Charles Tripp is Professor of Middle East Politics at University of London.
Paul Collins is Curator for Ancient Near East at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology at University of Oxford.
This book marks a new quality in Gertrude Bell scholarship. The
majority of the contributors, recruited from the conference, are an
inspiring group of experts. The editors -- Paul Collins and Charles
Tripp, curator at the Ashmolean Museum, professor of politics at
SOAS and fellow of the British Academy, respectively -- set the
high standards of the book in their Introduction. This finely
written, concise and contextualised biography of Gertrude Bell
signals the peculiar problems about her legacy, beginning with her
background and social status, and the privileges she often had no
qualms resorting to.
*Julia Szoltysek, European Legacy *
provide[s] a good introduction to the varied interests of Bell and
her standing in history
*Musings on Iraq*
this is a fascinating and significant collection of papers.
*Mike Pitts, British Archaeology*
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