Improbable Women: Five Who Explored the Middle East

326 Pages·2013·2.903 MB·English

by  William Woods Cotterman

IMPROBABLE WOMEN
Contemporary Issues in the Middle East
Mehran Kamrava and Carol Fadda-Conrey, Series Advisers
Selected titles in Contemporary Issues in the Middle East
American Writers in Istanbul: Melville, Twain, Hemingway,
Dos Passos, Bowles, Algren, Baldwin, and Settle
Kim Fortuny
Crossing Borders: An American Woman in the Middle East
Judith Caesar
Cultural Criticism in Egyptian Women’s Writing
Caroline Seymour-Jorn
Living in Romantic Baghdad: An American Memoir
of Teaching and Travel in Iraq, 1924–1947
Ida Donges Staudt; John Joseph, ed.
Making Do in Damascus: Navigating a Generation of Change in Family and Work
Sall y K. Gall agher
The Perils of Joy: Contesting Mulid Festivals in Contemporary Egypt
Samuli Schiel ke
Veiled Employment: Islamism and the Political
Economy of Women’s Employment in Iran
Roksana Bahramitash and Hadi Salehi Esfahani, eds.
We Are Iraqis: Aesthetics and Politics in a Time of War
Nadje Al-Ali and Deborah Al-Najjar, eds.
Writing Off the Beaten Track: Refl ections on the Meaning
of Travel and Culture in the Middle East
Judith Caesar
IMPROBABLE
Five Who Explored the Middle East
W O M E N
WILLIAM WOODS COTTERMAN
Syr acuse Univer sit y Press
Copyright © 2013 by Syracuse University Press
Syracuse, New York 13244-5290
The obituary of Gertrude Bell in chapter 16 is reprinted
with permission from the Alpine Journal 38 (November 1926).
All Rights Reserved
First Edition 2013
13 14 15 16 17 18 6 5 4 3 2 1
∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
For a listing of books published and distributed by Syracuse University Press,
visit our website at SyracuseUniversityPress.syr.edu.
ISBN: 978-0-8156-1023-6 (cloth) 978-0-8156-5231-1 (e-book)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cotterman, William W.
Improbable women : fi ve who explored the Middle East /
William Woods Cotterman. — First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8156-1023-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Women travelers—Middle East—
Biography. 2. Middle East—History—19th century. 3. Middle East—
History—20th century. 4. Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra. I. Title.
G490.C64 2013
915.604'1509252—dc23 2013025934
Manufactured in the United States of America
•
To my wife, Kennethe;
my daughters Elizabeth, Kennethe, and Dana;
my granddaughters Jennifer, Lauren, Sarah, Emily, Lily, and
Alena; and my great-granddaughters Harper, Alexa,
and Violet—improbable women all.
•
William Woods Cotterman, PhD, worked in many countries
in the Middle East during the past fi fty years and lived in the area for
three years. First full-time chairman of the Computer Information
Systems Department at Georgia State University, he wrote six books
and a number of articles on information systems–related subjects.
In 1973, he took a leave of absence to work in Kuwait on an input-
output analysis of the economy that led eventually to the estab-
lishment of Kuwait’s national accounts. Subsequent assignments in
the Middle East came from the United States Information Agency,
United Nations Development Programme, National Science Foun-
dation, and American University in Beirut Services Corporation, in
addition to private companies. President Carter appointed him to
a Committee on White House Information Systems to analyze and
make recommendations on the use of computers and information
technology within the Executive Offi ce of the president.
Bill lives in Norcross, Georgia, with his wife, Kennethe. He is
now a professor and chair emeritus of computer information sys-
tems at Georgia State University. He continues to study Arabic and
remains an ardent traveler: most recently as the only passenger on
the motor vessel Hanjin Boston on a fi ve-week voyage from Long
Beach, California, to Korea, China, Taiwan, and back. In the course
of the voyage they sailed through a typhoon in the East China Sea.
Contents

List of Maps and Figures • ix

Acknowledgments • xi

Introduction • xiii
Part One
Augusta Zenobia: 241–275(?)

1. That Woman in Palmyra • 3
Part Two
Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope: 1776–1839

2. Hester’s World • 21

3. Forged in Confl ict • 28

4. First Lady • 38

5. On Dealing with Brutal Men • 48

6. A Nun in Lebanon • 68
Part Three
Lady Jane Elizabeth Digby El Mesrab: 1807–1881

7. Jane’s World • 83

8. Everything for Love • 88

9. Affairs to Remember • 98

10. From Bandit to Bedouin • 111
viii • Contents
Part Four
Isabel Arundell Burton: 1831–1896

11. Isabel’s World • 125

12. Creating a Dream • 129

13. Realizing the Dream • 147
Part Five
Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell: 1868–1926

14. Gertrude’s World • 159

15. Bright and Brave • 165

16. From Mountains to Mohammed • 173

17. Joyous Journeys • 189

18. Creating Iraq • 200
Part Six
Freya Madeline Stark: 1893–1993

19. Freya’s World • 209

20. Accepting the Torch • 212

21. Assassins and Incense • 222

22. War from Cairo to Baghdad • 240

23. To the End of the Road • 253

Notes • 263

Bibliography • 273

Index • 287