Here is a very interesting book I just read. “Dreamers of the Day” by Mary Russell. This is an historical fictional account of Agnes Shanklin- a prim, plain, forty year old Cleveland, Ohio school teacher of the early 1900’s. What especially drew me to this book was not only the history of that time period, but also of the Middle East after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Much is given to the 1918 Influenza Epidemic, the Great War (1914-1918) that took million of senseless lives and the politics of the Arab world. After losing her entire family to the 1918 flu, and with a small inheritance, Agnes sets out for Egypt with Rosie her feisty dachshund and faithful companion. Upon arrival in 1920 Cairo, Agnes enters into the company of historical luminaries who will, in the space of a few days at a hotel in Cairo (The Cairo Conference), invent the new nations of the Middle East, cutting up the old Ottoman Empire to suit themselves and Britain. Thus, Iraq, Jordan, and a new Jewish homeland was formed by eminent names as Winston Churchill (then his Britannic Majesty’s Secretary for air in the 1921 colonies), Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), Gertrude Bell (wealthy British spinster who was to dominate Arab politics in the early 1900’s), Lieutenant Colonel Arnold Wilson (was British high commissioner in Mesopotamia. Then with the Anglo-Persian Oil Co.). Thus, Agnes is drawn into this world of intrigue, spies, and excitement. Sadly, the people of the Middle East were not consulted- what of a nation for the Kurds, the Shi’a and the Sunni. Nevertheless, as Lord Cox stated, Arab nationalism is fraud, their loyalty is to their tribe and Islam. They have no concept of democracy. Unfortunately, today, we have yet to realize this concept of the Muslim World. This book is at the Harrison County Library. There is also a book on Gertrude Bell by Janet Wallach.
Reveiwer: Carolyn Beanblossom
