In his classic book, T.E. Lawrence—forever known as Lawrence of Arabia—recounts his role in the origin of the modern Arab world. At first a shy Oxford scholar and archaeologist with a facility for languages, he joined and went on to lead the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turks while the rest of the world was enmeshed in World War I. With its richly detailed evocation of the land and the people … people Lawrence passionately believed in, its incisive portraits of key players, from Faisal ibn Hussein, the future Hashemite king of Syria and Iraq, to General Sir Edmund Allenby and other members of the British imperial forces, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom is an indispensible primary historical source. It helps us to understand today’s Middle East, while giving us thrilling accounts of military exploits (including the liberation of Aqaba and Damascus), clandestine activities, and human foibles.
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Wow. I’m finally done with The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, by T.E. Lawrence, i.e., Lawrence of Arabia. Yes, these are his memoirs, upon which the famous movie is based, and I feel like I’ve been reading them for months. I have been reading them for months. Too good to put down, too intimidating to pick up for reading before bed, I’ve read it only when I’ve had an unbroken block of 30-60 minutes.
Lawrence had studied archeology in college, I think, and had spent time on digs of crusader castles in Syria, where he perfected his Arabic and spent much time traveling around, familiarizing himself with the land and its people. When World War I broke out, he was a perfect prospect for joining British intelligence in Egypt. The British thought it might help their cause to encourage a rebellion among the Arabs against their Ottoman overlords in Turkey, who were allied with Germany, and sent Lawrence for the job.
Lawrence’s first task was identifying which of old, doddering King Hussein’s three sons would be a good leader for a rebellion, and found the ideal man in Prince Feisal, a calm, fair-minded, Turkish-educated natural leader of men. Together Lawrence and Feisal led a motley collection of Bedouin tribesman and local Arab peasants from Jeddah on the Red Sea coast up to, eventually, Damascus and the ultimate defeat of the Turks in Arab lands.
Lawrence himself becomes a legend in Arabia through the course of the book, a strange blue-eyed figure, a non-Muslim and a clean-shaven man, both great rarities in the desert, yet acting as a sheik and a military leader, with the authority and white robes of Mecca, and a gold Meccan dagger presented him by Prince Feisal himself. When he arrives in an area where he hasn’t been before, the locals all come to see this odd sight firsthand, though of course they already know him by reputation. And he strives to live up to their expectations, living the same hard life as a Bedouin, and even going out of his way to learn words in local dialects and details of local clans, so that he can greet a stranger and ask him of his family on first meeting. Quite an incredible man!
I’m naming this book as one of my Shortcuts to Smartness, by which I mean a book that so expands your knowledge and understanding in so many areas it’s like a college class in and of itself. But in this case, I’m also including a caveat, which is that this book is so huge and mighty, and much of the knowledge provided so esoteric–the different types of sand in the desert, how to coax a she-camel to travel when she is mourning a lost calf, the difference in what the English and the Arabs conceive of as hunger, and on and on–that it takes a reader truly willing to accompany Lawrence on his journey, including all the immensely interesting, though often lengthy, digressions.
In fact, if you think the movie is long, it is only the thin outer layer of the fruit. I think my favorite part is learning about how to feast in the Bedouin tradition, with goat and camel meat roasted and presented steaming (rude to wait until it cools–too bad for your fingers!), and an elaborate hierarchy of who gets to eat from the common dishes first, who eats second after the best parts are taken, and who gets the bones and other remains.
Or maybe the history of Auda, the old desert warrior who becomes a general in the Arab army, who has killed more than 70 Arabs with his own hands in his life, and so many Turks he doesn’t even know (because who counts Turks?), and who describes to all who will listen the adventures of his life in the most heroic terms.
But these are just two of the many, many interesting descriptions and stories–hundreds, not dozens–sprinkled throughout the main narrative. This book may not be for all, but if you have the will, the desire, most of all the time, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom is worth your attention.
Seven Pillars of Wisdom is T.E. Lawrence’s (Lawrence of Arabia) accounting of his years in the Arabian Desert as a British officer serving with Arab forces in revolt, against the Ottoman Turks.
It is a frank, no-holds-barred telling of a guerrilla military campaign fraught with human cruelty and dictated by intertribal politics, and international scheming and diplomacy.
Lawrence wrote this book on the condition that it not be available to the public until after his death, and he leaves nothing out. His rape, at the hands of Turkish soldiers, and his accounting of a hospital turned charnel house are truly cringe worthy.
Due to lost manuscripts, Lawrence had to rewrite this book several times. The resulting Seven Pillars of Wisdom just might be one of the best books written in the 20th Century, and T.E. Lawrence is definitely one of that Century’s most interesting people.