Archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist (fluent in six languages), author, photographer, mountaineer, and army major, the intoxicating, intrepid Major Miss Bell, who made her home in Baghdad, with T. E. Lawrence and Churchill, created modern Iraq. Howell quotes liberally from Bell's diaries, letters and books, bringing out the character of this remarkable woman.  (ARB82, $15.00)