Syria: the Desert and the Sown

She rode out of Jerusalem in 1905 with a caravan and no European company at all. Bell crossed the Syrian desert to Damascus, Baalbek, Homs and Antioch, camping with the tribes, drinking coffee with sheikhs, and taking careful notes on everything: the ruins, the politics, the loyalties, the grievances. The knowledge in this book is why the British later handed her a country to draw.