Dreaming of East: Western Women and the Exotic Allure of the Orient

Like I said it's more of a coffee table book and a wee one at that. It gives an introduction to 19th C women who traveled through the "East" usually on their own, & many of them cross dressing as men. There's a lot of hype about the clothing they wore which may seem trivial now but was in fact a big factor in inhibiting women from doing things. The most annoying thing I found was the actual binding, being not really a book but more of a thick brochure, one really had to bend the spine to be able to read the text at times. sigh...
Some of the more interesting women mentioned include the Saint-Simoniennes, Princess Cristina di Belgiojoso, Ida Pfeiffer, Isabella Bird, Rosita Forbes, Freya Start, Lady Hester Stanhope, Isabel Burton, Regula show more Engel, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Lady Elizabeth Craven & Countess Ida von Hahn-Hahn and Lucie Duff Gordon. Many of whom left diaries or autobiographies that are published now. Hopefully I can track these down. A few of these women did actually do some real exploring and are worth tracking down more info about.
There are some great old vintage photographs and drawings, sadly some are presented too small to be appreciated. show less

From the eighteenth to the early twentieth century, Western woman visiting
the Middle East discovered there a rare and precious commodity: freedom.
From aristocrats to the working class, women of all backgrounds wrote of this
astonishing paradox and of the region's enduring appeal. Dreaming of East is an
engaging look at a fascinating aspect of West meets East.