The Desert and the Sown

Desert explorer Bell's account of her 1905 trip across the Syrian Desert from Jericho to Antioch contains evocative descriptions and numerous photographs of the Middle East during its time under Ottoman rule.

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A seeming contradiction, Gertrude Bell was both a proper Victorian and an intrepid explorer of the Arabian wilderness. She was a close friend of T. E. Lawrence, and played an important role in creating the modern map of the Middle East after World War I. The Desert and the Sown is a chronicle, illustrated by over 160 photos, of Bell's 1905 journey from Jericho to Antioch, a land of warring tribes under Turkish control.