Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark (Modern Library (Paperback))

This book is for anyone who loves adventure, different cultures, exciting and interesting characters, and history. I had never even heard of Freya Stark before stumbling upon a recommendation for this book. I started it with some uncertainty, but soon I couldn't put it down. The author has done a wonderful job of presenting the life of this fascinating woman in the context of the times. I learned so much about the history of the Middle East and have a little bit better understanding of the many complexities facing that area today.I loved the writing syle, the pictures, and the use of quotes from Stark's writing as chapter headers (several I have copied to keep on file). This book is definitely readable, informative, entertaining, and has lead me to explore Stark's own writings as well as information about the many individuals who appear in the book (such as Gertrude Bell).The only annoying element of this book was the author's focus on Stark's appearance. Apparently, however, this was a huge concern for Stark herself, but by looking at her pictures, she certainly was not that unattractive. And her smile is delightful.I thank the Amazon reader who lead me to this book. I highly recommend it as well.

Freya Stark had a much longer and far more adventuresome life than most. Born in 1893, she died a few months past her one-hundredth birthday. From a rather undistinguished background, with minimal formal education, and after suffering a horrific and disfiguring accident as a thirteen-year-old girl, Stark made a name for herself as one of the great British explorers and travel writers of the twentieth century. She was honored by the Royal Geographic Society and feted by all of Great Britain. Eventually she was knighted, becoming Dame Freya Stark. PASSIONATE NOMAD is an interesting biography of this remarkable woman.Broadly speaking, there are two aspects to Stark's career. The first was as an intrepid traveller, going places in the Middle East where few or no Europeans had gone before. Then she wrote about those places and her adventures in a series of books that belong in the top rank of British travel literature. Among her expeditions, Stark visited the mysterious Druze and explored the castle hideouts of the ancient Assassins in Syria; she explored remote areas of Iraq and Persia; and she traversed the southern Arabian Peninsula, even venturing into North Yemen. She suffered dengue fever, sandfly fever, malaria, and dysentery, and she had several close calls with death. She was aided by her ability to speak Arabic in any number of dialects, her knowledge of the Koran, her ability to improvise, her disregard for the comforts of European civilization, and sheer obstinacy.The other major area of accomplishment involved her work for the Ministry of Information during and after World War II. As an expert on the Arabs and the Middle East, she was recruited by the government to help keep the Arabs neutral and foster British political interests however she could. She was one of three hundred Europeans holed up in the British embassy during the month-long siege of Baghdad in May 1941. As the war wound down, Great Britain tabbed her to go to the United States as a representative and defender of what was then Britain's "fence-sitting" policy towards Palestine. Part of her message, which she truly believed, was that "it hardly made sense * * * to make the Palestinians pay with their homes and lands for injuries done to Jews by European Christians." The Americans were not persuaded and shortly thereafter the British too changed their policy.Author Geniesse does a good job of covering Stark's numerous achievements, and she does a better job of giving the reader a sympathetic sense of Freya Stark, who turns out to be a very complicated and sometimes even contradictory woman. Inwardly, she was insecure and craved affection; outwardly, she could be extremely charming, but also imperious, manipulative, and at times just plain bitchy. By middle age, she had become a British eccentric through and through.From the "How Things Have Changed" Department: "She discovered how safe it was for a woman to wander alone in an Islamic land, for despite what the missionary ladies told her, she had learned that Islamic tradition treats women with exquisite respect." One of the rare occasions on which she felt threatened was when, in Damascus, she was photographing ruins and an elderly man approached her, salaamed, and suggested that she follow him to see something even more interesting; he led her down dark and twisting streets to a public bath and ushered her into its dim interior where she was suddenly surrounded by nearly naked men in towels; "she thrust her camera before her face as if to take their picture, thanked them profusely, backed to the heavy door, and fled."My problem with the book is the author's style. It is too wordy, with too many rhetorical flourishes for my taste. Geniesse relies heavily on one device that particularly grates on me -- what I will call "no-one-could-have-foreseen foreshadowing". For example: "She could have no idea how squalid her circumstances would turn out to be, nor especially could she know that her visit to Damascus would be the first step on the way to an astonishing career." Or: "Two young members during the war were Lieutenants Gamal Nasser and Anwar Sadat, but neither Freya nor anyone else could suspect the future roles they would play." (And there are other such instances.)Geniesse quotes liberally from letters and books of Stark. (For what it's worth, Stark was a distinctly better writer.) There are nine pages of useful maps, although I wish that when cities or places were named in the text there were a cross-reference to the appropriate map on which the reader could locate them. There also are about sixty photographs, most of them intrinsically interesting but nearly all printed with exasperatingly inadequate resolution or clarity. (Several are so small and fuzzy as to be worthless.)P.S. The sentence with which I have entitled this review is from Stark's "Letters from Syria". What it describes has been true for me my entire life.

I set off for an adventure, recently joining a trans-Atlantic ship voyage followed by a two-week walk on the Camino Portuguese and was looking for a book that might connect me to the Old World and also be a joy to read. Long story short, I could not put "Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark" down! Jane Fletcher Geniesse is a consummate researcher and poignant storyteller, somuchso that with every passing page, I felt as if I were alongside Ms. Stark herself. What an incredible life, this Freya, smart woman/adventurer/dare-devil/whirlwind/author/mountain climber/patriot/grand conversationalist and yes, passionate nomad, who thrived in the era after World War I when so much was shifting in the Middle East and Europe, and who so well documented her beguiling travels while also uncovering antiquities far afield. Bewitching! She seemed able to penetrate a mountain's silence, to know intimately the psyche of the East. My only sorry note is one of embarrassment in that I had never heard of Ms. Stark before reading this biography. Thank you Ms. Geniesse, for keeping the Stark flame burning brightly. May her life inspire many more generations to come with a full heart and courageous spirit, a la the one-and-only... Freya. Hurrah! Maura Conlon-McIvor, author.

I came across this book in another book about Arabist by Robert KaplanI had trouble getting into it but am glad I perseveredOnce she begins her travels it becomes very interesting and in addition to being well-written it is also footnoted nicely and provides a history of both the region and Islam

Drawing heavily from Freya Stark’s voluminous correspondence, the book recounts the life, personality, relationships, values, and adventures of this unique individual. Freya Stark was driven, ambitious, sensual, intellectual, political, compassionate, energetic, eccentric, exploitative, curious, vain, luxury-loving, gender-insensitive, articulate, physically both very tough and very fragile, sociable, funny, irresponsible, erratic, and insecure. For me, the book was too heavy on her early family life and her romantic misadventures. The accounts of her travels in the Middle East and her role trying to improve the image of Britain among Arabs during WWII, however, make this a worthwhile read.

A very well written and researched book. Fortunately the author had a lot of source material because of Freya Starks letters.It is a fascinating account of a remarkable life. We dvided it in to 3 parts and covered it in 3 separate sessions of a bookclub. It was the only way to do it justice.

Just started reading the book but the print is very small and a strain on the eyes. Pity as I don't know how I can read through. The bookseller should warn the buyer of the font size....

Very Interesting and educational, Made one realize how little we know of the history of the middle East. What a remarkable woman. e

As a child, Freya Stark would escape into books and her own boundless imagination such that she was “the star of her own adventure story.” It’s a long time since my own childhood, but Jane Fletcher Geniesse’s biography had the same immersive, escapist effect on me.The biography is intelligently-written and thoroughly researched and referenced. It covers the whole of Freya’s century lifespan, from childhood in Devon and Italy, the First World War, her studies and initial travels in Lebanon, Syria, Iran & Iraq, followed by those in Southern Arabia. Then there’s the Second World War, which found Freya working for the Ministry of Information in Aden, Cairo, Iraq and India, followed by an ill-advised (although understandable) marriage, further travels, notably to Turkey and finally her twlight years and a return to Italy.Freya Stark frequently appears on those internet lists of “10 amazing, inspiring women” (which I’m sure she wouldn’t have particularly liked, although it might have amused her). But what this biography successfully does is get beneath the stunning brave amazingness to the essence of Freya Stark and what made her what she was. And this is the fascination of Freya - a mass of seeming contradictions. She could be bossy and imperious, yet continued to be dominated and controlled by her mother. She was frequently ill yet simultaneously delicate and tough as old boots. A small woman with huge courage. A fantasist who was as down-to-earth as they come. At times horribly snobbish in her own way, yet with an instinctive understanding of common humanity.It was this unconventionality and the tension between wanting to fit in and be loved, accepted and admired, and the devil-may-care recklessness that drove Freya. She probably never achieved contentment, yet at the same time she never stagnated and maintained her sense of wonder, rapture and love of all that the Earth had to offer in terms of people, nature and places.There are some wonderful anecdotes - I particularly enjoyed the “Three Foolish Virgins” section where Freya travels with two lady archaeologists and, predictably enough, they all fall out. Around this time, Freya adopts a lizard (“Himyar”) as a pet: “She fed him nasturtiums and violets, warmed him inside her jacket, and utterly gave him her heart.” Rather sadly, Freya writes after her scaly friend dies ... “... I think he and I were alike in lots of ways, both rather small and lonely in our hearts.”The biography is mercifully free of judgement and/or looking through a modern lens (maybe because it was written a little while ago). Freya’s “anti-feminist” stance, the casual taking of artefacts, the sense of entitlement - all of these may not endear her to readers today. But I think each can form their own opinion, taking into account the times Freya lived in - and come to their own conclusions.I have a minor criticism of the book in that it becomes a litte repetitive, particular on the subject of Freya’s physical appearance - and that of others. While “not being pretty” obviously concerned Freya at times - and she did suffer a terrible accident as a young teenager which left her disfigured - I’m not convinced that this was of so much importance as the author implies.There is a fascinating postscript to the biography which sheds new light on the background of this complex, multi-talented woman. Having read this biography, I’m keen to seek out some of the original writing of Freya Stark.

Informative and clear and provides a helpful aid, Good in its own right & in its remit, but recognised it could in no way match the dynamism of the autobiography, which I am thoroughly taken up with.