A review by wwatts1734
Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph by T.E. Lawrence
3.0
Many people have seen the movie "Lawrence of Arabia", but not many people have read this book, which is the inspiration of the movie. It is the fascinating story of TE Lawrence, the British Arabic scholar who is enlisted into service to liaison with Faisal, the Hashemite emir of Mecca, and convince him to wage war against the Ottoman Turks. While Lawrence's contribution to the war effort was minimal to say the least, his story is a very interesting spin on the First World War, since most people know only about trench warfare in the desert, and not the colonial wars in the desert.
Lawrence linked up with Faisal in the Arabian desert and convinced him to rebel against the Ottoman Turks, who ruled Arabia at the time and who were allied with Germany in the war. Faisal's loyalty to the British cause is tenuous to say the least. He sees Britain as the lesser of two evils, but he felt that a British victory in the war would lead to independent Arab nations in the Middle East and an end to the nationalistic Young Turks who opposed Arab nationalism.
Lawrence lived the life of an Arab in the year or so that he was with Faisal. He learned the culture and ways of the Arab tribesman and shares them with the reader. While Faisal never converted to Islam, he does have a profound understanding of the Muslim faith. He also speaks of the brutality of the Turks, to include a disturbing scene of male on male rape. At the end of the war, Lawrence accompanied Faisal to the Versailles peace conferences where he witnesses the allied leaders giving away the promises that Faisal assumed were his, and Faisal ended up as king of the new nation of Iraq, rather than the leader of an Arab confederacy as he had hoped. Lawrence, like many who participated in Versailles, was disillusioned. His credibility among the Arabs was shot, and Lawrence spent the rest of his life as an academic and writer until his death in a motorcycle accident in the 1930s.
The story that Lawrence tells in this book is fascinating, but Lawrence's prose is academic and boring. He gets too mired in minutia and at times he is difficult to follow. However, if you are included to read this book, I think you will get a lot out of it. This book is particularly recommended to those who are interested in Arab culture and society.
Lawrence linked up with Faisal in the Arabian desert and convinced him to rebel against the Ottoman Turks, who ruled Arabia at the time and who were allied with Germany in the war. Faisal's loyalty to the British cause is tenuous to say the least. He sees Britain as the lesser of two evils, but he felt that a British victory in the war would lead to independent Arab nations in the Middle East and an end to the nationalistic Young Turks who opposed Arab nationalism.
Lawrence lived the life of an Arab in the year or so that he was with Faisal. He learned the culture and ways of the Arab tribesman and shares them with the reader. While Faisal never converted to Islam, he does have a profound understanding of the Muslim faith. He also speaks of the brutality of the Turks, to include a disturbing scene of male on male rape. At the end of the war, Lawrence accompanied Faisal to the Versailles peace conferences where he witnesses the allied leaders giving away the promises that Faisal assumed were his, and Faisal ended up as king of the new nation of Iraq, rather than the leader of an Arab confederacy as he had hoped. Lawrence, like many who participated in Versailles, was disillusioned. His credibility among the Arabs was shot, and Lawrence spent the rest of his life as an academic and writer until his death in a motorcycle accident in the 1930s.
The story that Lawrence tells in this book is fascinating, but Lawrence's prose is academic and boring. He gets too mired in minutia and at times he is difficult to follow. However, if you are included to read this book, I think you will get a lot out of it. This book is particularly recommended to those who are interested in Arab culture and society.