Starred review from August 23, 2010
This magisterial biography of British soldier and adventurer T.E. Lawrence celebrates a life spent subverting authority in the most glamorous—and bizarre—ways. S&S editor-in-chief emeritus Korda (Ike) gives a rousing, lucid account of Lawrence's leadership of the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire during WWI and his diplomatic championing of Arab nationalism. But it's Lawrence's artistic bent—his Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a classic of war literature—and his magnetic but tortured soul that take center stage. Korda's Lawrence blends fierce ambition, monkish austerity, self-abasing masochism (sparked, perhaps, by whippings at the hands of his mother and Turkish soldiers), a disdain for higher-ranking brass, and a penchant for dominating it. After the war he tried to restrain these tendencies by enlisting as a lowly private in the Royal Air Force when he was a celebrity and confidant of government ministers. Korda perhaps exaggerates the novelty and significance of Lawrence's military exploits and makes an unconvincing stab at framing him in Joseph Campbell–inspired heroic archetypes. Still, Korda's vivid portrait of Lawrence and his warring impulses captures the brilliance and charisma of this fascinating figure. 16 pages of b&w photos, 26 b&w photos throughout.
September 1, 2010
T.E. Lawrence (1888-1935) lived an extraordinary life: archaeologist and explorer in the Middle East; military planner and leader of the Arab revolt in World War I; influential diplomat and statesman after the war; gifted writer; and a close friend and correspondent to writers, artists, and political leaders until his death in a motorcycle accident. Romanticized by Lowell Thomas and the popular press, he achieved wide fame in Britain and the United States that he sometimes used to advance his causes but more often shunned to protect his privacy. His story is well known, first from Thomas and later in the striking 1962 film, as well as through several serious biographies and volumes of his published letters, all of which Korda, successful publisher and prolific author, has examined to bring together the different phases of Lawrence's life, including his tense family background. The result is an engaging portrait of a talented man who achieved much in spite of a complex and sometimes self-destructive inner life. Korda calls Lawrence a hero in the classical sense, meaning one who trained himself for the role through moral and physical discipline, hard work, courage, and great skill at leading others. VERDICT Because so much has already been written by and about Lawrence, there is not much new here. The book's value is in its readability--it will draw in even those familiar with Lawrence. His life deserves a new biography every few years. History buffs and general readers will appreciate this well-written, fast-moving exposition of the rich life of an individual. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 7/10.]--Elizabeth R. Hayford, emerita, Associated Colls. of the Midwest, Evanston, IL
Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 1, 2010
The first 100 pages of this very lengthy biography of T. E. Lawrence will prove a trial for all readers other than military-history buffs. Once past that rocky start, however, the excessive detail of those interminable early pages becomes the rich substance of a sophisticated, rigorously pursued life-study by a distinguished editor and biographer. Lawrencefamously known as Lawrence of Arabiahas always been regarded as a vital leader, operating within the structure and goals of the British army, of the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire during WWI. In fact, as recalled and emphasized here, Lawrence emerged from the global conflict as the most renowned, and lasting, hero. He was an exceptional individual nearly from birth, with an early-born consciousness of his destiny as a hero. His cultivation of such awareness began during his schoolboy years, and he eventually showed his brilliance in military strategy, diplomacy, and politics. The map of the Middle East looks as it does today due in large part to Lawrences nearly single-handed nation building in the area as a leading fighter for Arab independence and, later, at the postwar Paris Peace Conference. The authors fathoming of his subjects convoluted sexuality adds not prurience to the picture but a definite human dimension. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Heavy media promotion, including an online publicity campaign targeting history and book blogs, will bring this book to a wide, and widely curious, audience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)
August 15, 2010
Book-publishing veteran and prolific historian Korda (With Wings Like Eagles: The Untold Story of the Battle of Britain, 2009, etc.) offers a comprehensive, admiring treatment of one of England's most popular if controversial military celebrities, T.E. Lawrence (1888-1935).
The author does not restrain his enthusiasm for, and even awe of, his subject. He calls Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1927) "one of the great pieces of modern writing about war" and compares him with a dizzying range of characters, from Odysseus to Princess Diana. At first, Korda uses Joseph Campbell's work of comparative mythology, Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), to provide a framework, then, mercifully, abandons it. The author begins during World War I with the involvement of the diminutive young Lawrence, still in his 20s, already fluent in Arabic and other languages and already an authority on the Middle East. Korda describes military and political maneuvers and then retreats to narrate Lawrence's complicated birth (his parents were not married), boyhood, education and young manhood. Throughout, the author emphasizes Lawrence's deeply troubled relationship with his mother, but he also underscores his ferocious work habits, enormously high pain threshold (captured by the enemy, he endured severe beatings and rape) and unique combination of modesty (he refused honors) and pride (he wrote many letters to newspapers and cultivated friendships with George Bernard Shaw, Lady Astor, Thomas Hardy and others). Lawrence's military and political successes in the Middle East are undeniable, but his postwar life was a disturbing mixture of depression, enormous celebrity, a deep ambivalence about routine military life (he was in and out of the RAF) and sexual confusions. A motorcycle accident killed him at age 46.
Though occasionally fawning, an accessible, textured story of one man who intimately knew the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
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