Book Review: 'Hero, the Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia' an excellent biography
Michael Korda's fine new biography, "Hero, the Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia," comes at a critical moment in the Arab world, with the U.S. foreign policy in shambles as Egyptians riot in the streets and Tunisians oust their leaders.
Most Americans probably are only familiar with T. E. Lawrence as portrayed by Peter O'Toole in the David Lean film "Lawrence of Arabia," a fine biopic if not exactly the true, full story of Lawrence.
Korda's 762-page biography is a heavy read (oh, for a Kindle version!) concentrating on Lawrence's triumphs in 1916-18 when he led the desert tribes of Bedouins against the rag-tag Turkish empire, "the sick man of Europe." This was after working as an archeologist in England and in Arab lands and learning the ways of the Arab world and the language.
Lawrence turned out to be a master of guerrilla as well as traditional war as was being fought in Europe. He always sought to help Arabs gain a country of their own but was foiled by the secret diplomacy of England and France. His failure was a permanent blot of his life, up until he died in a motorcycle crash after serving as an enlisted man ("other ranks" in Brit speak) in the RAF and British army — after having been a lieutenant colonel at various times in the Mideast.
Lawrence did much to help create today's Iraq and Jordan and to skewer plans for a Jewish state. He was a military genius but a tortured man, apparently sexless, both vain and shy.
He was also an excellent writer, as a read of his "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" will show. He was also a skilled writer of letters to his wide circle of friends, both of the upper class and fellow enlisted men.
He was also something of a masochist who hired a man to whip him. He was also apparently raped while a Turkish prisoner. All is told in Korda's detailed story, available at the Carson City Library in the new books section. Korda has access to many documents that were released by the Brits in the 1960s and '70s and gives what is probably the definitive biography do the man.
The book's title, "Hero," says much about Lawrence and Korda's take on the man — surely a hero, flawed as he was. Korda also gives Lawrence credit for much unheroic outside of Arabia, such as translating the "Odyssey" in a sort of spare time effort. And Lawrence's efforts at the post WWI peace conference in Paris where the Arabs were denied a homeland.
Yes, Lawrence determined much of the shape of the Mideast, but perhaps more importantly he gave millions the concept of a "hero." Short, unimposing, both vain and modest, he made a mark on the world and it is to Korda's credit that we now know more about this "hero."
— Sam Bauman