The Desert and the Sown by Gertrude Bell

Here I have made a few observations from the book and copied some of my favourite quotes:īell describes her arrival in the village of Salt in Syria. I wish I had left a gap between reading the two books so that I didn’t spend the first part of Syria – The Desert and the Sown comparing it and her slightly altered writing style with Amarath to Amarath. All in all, I loved both books, everything I loved most about Amarath to Amarath was in Syria – The Desert and the Sown, and Bell is still my hero (despite the monumental mess of modern Iraq). An advantage of Syria – The Desert and the Sown is that it doesn’t have the long academic descriptions of archeological sites that even I skim read. She also has not learnt as much about archeology and architecture than what she decribes in the later book. This book was published 4 years earlier than Amarath to Amarath and Bell is more timid and less assured in this earlier book. Once again I loved travelling vicariously with perhaps the most adventurous British woman that I’ve heard of, though granted her wealth gave her comforts and staff that are inaccessible to most others, she chose not to marry and stay in a comfortable life in Britain but instead to travel far and wide across the Middle East, climb mountains, learn about historical architecture and archaeology, master Arabic, Farsi, German and French and shape modern Iraq. It lived up to my hopes and was also a great pleasure to read. The text is accompanied by numerous photographs taken by the author.Book cover – Syria: the Desert & the SownĪfter finding so much pleasure in reading Gertrude Bell’s book Amarath to Amarath I moved on to Syria – The Desert and the Sown with great expectations ( downloaded for free from this site because it is outside of copyright). She would later go on to play a highly influential role in the politics of the Middle East, drawing on the knowledge and personal connections she built up during these and other travels. Fluent in Arabic and several other languages, Bell brings to her account a level of insight beyond the reach of an average travel writer. In this vivid and painstakingly documented narrative, Bell recounts her visits to Damascus, Jerusalem, Beirut, Antioch and Alexandretta, as well as the time she spent in the deserts of the region. Gertrude Bell's Syria: The Desert and the Sown describes her travels in the Levant (also called Greater Syria) during the first years of the 20th century.

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The Desert and the Sown by Gertrude Bell