Short description
Lawrence was a brilliant propagandist, rhetorician and manipulator, who deliberately turned his life into a conundrum. But who was the real man behind the masks? This work set out to solve this riddle and discovers a hero whose greatness owed as much to his weaknesses as to his strengths.
Long description
'The best life of Lawrence yet published' - The Express . Lawrence was a brilliant propagandist, rhetorician and manipulator, who deliberately turned his life into a conundrum. But who was the real man behind the masks? Lawrence began the GreatWar as a map-clerk and ended it as one of the greatest military heroes of the 20th century. He altered the face of the Middle East, helped to lead the Arabs to freedom and formulated modern guerilla warfare. Yet he refused any honours and spent therest of his life in near obscurity. Desert explorer and Arabist, Michael Asher, set out to solve this riddle and discovers a hero whose greatness owed as much to his weaknesses as to his strengths.
Review
T E Lawrence is one of the great 20th-century English military heroes - the modest clerk who became Lawrence of Arabia, leading the Arabs to freedom from Turkish domination; the first true guerrilla fighter who also wrote at least one literary classic - The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Asher tells his story forcefully and well but also explores the inner Lawrence: a masochist terrified of pain, but seeking and overcoming it; a homosexual trapped by the conventions of the time; a selfless man of great personal vanity. By far the best of a considerable number of attempts to understand the man. (Kirkus UK)