Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph by T.E. Lawrence
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Book Reviews of Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph
Book Review: Will Power Catalyst of Strength Through Unity
Summary: 5 Stars
T.E. Lawrence narrates with passion and in his peculiar style the years he spent in the Middle East, first as archeologist before WWI then as "free agent" of the British government in its fight against Turkey and Germany during WWI. Lawrence knew from the beginning of the Arab campaign that he was a "fraud" because of the duplicity of the French and British. Lawrence rightly perceived that if the Arabs won the war against Turkey and its German ally, the powerbrokers of that time would steal from the Arabs the fruit of their victory. Promises of self-government afterwards would be dead paper. After the end of the hostilities, Lawrence skillfully advised King Feisal and his delegation to get as many of the spoils of war as possible from the victors at the Conference of Paris. After the conference, the French could largely be blamed for undermining the regime of King Feisal in Damascus and pushing him to ultimately leave for Baghdad. The contemporary Middle East could have been very different from what it is now. History has the annoying habit of repeating itself over time because of the widely shared inability of mankind to learn from past mistakes.Despite Lawrence's disclaimer in his introduction, his "Seven Pillars of Wisdom A Triumph" offers valuable lessons to a contemporary audience to better understand the enduring complexity of the Middle East. Whoever has had the chance to journey through the Middle East can vividly remember at least some locations that Lawrence describes. The Middle East is one of the cradles of the Western civilization. Its cultural heritage is almost unmatched. The ancient law of hospitality is not an urban legend, but remains a reality of which Semitic people can be proud. Lawrence understood very well that condescending attitude towards Semitic people could only backfire. Treating its inhabitants with respect and understanding earned him their enduring trust. For those who have not had the opportunity to crisscross the region, Lawrence's narration provides a rare opportunity to gain valuable insights into the minds of Semitic nations. For example:
Lawrence observed that Semitic people were not inclined to compromise, pursing the logic of their respective incompatible opinions to absurd ends, without perceiving the incongruity (pg. 38). Does it not sound familiar for example in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict today?
British forces won battle after battle against the Turks in Iraq until they reached Ctesiphon, where they met pugnacious enemy troops, and were abruptly checked. They fell back, dazed. Until the end of WWI, the British in Iraq remained an occupying force, with the local people passively neutral or sullenly against them (pg. 59-60, 636). Does that assessment not sound similar to the experience of the Coalition forces in Iraq today? Working tirelessly by both indirect influence and education rather than by forceful direction is key to avoid becoming or remaining a target practice.
Extreme patience was another lesson to Lawrence of what native leadership meant (pg. 122). Lawrence felt that Semitic people were looking for a stranger to lead them, one whose supremacy should be based on an idea: illogical, undeniable: which instinct might accept and reason find no rational basis to reject or approve (pg. 234). Would this not ring true to the ears of the architects of the road map to peace? External will power exercised on all sides with the same strength is necessary to get out of the current impasse in the Middle Eastern peace process.
The dream of both Lawrence and King Feisal is not dead. One day, the Middle East will be united in an Islamic Economic Community, precursor of an Islamic Union that has Islam, democracy and economic liberalism as its three founding pillars. There is no need for an old-fashioned caliphate. The capital of the future Islamic Economic Community could be, for example, in Amman or Dubai to avoid unhealthy rivalries between the larger and more powerful Semitic nations. Israel and the would-be Islamic Economic Community could be linked peacefully after the relationship existing between the European Union and The European Free Trade Association.
Book Review: A Great Work Of Homosexual Literature
Summary: 5 Stars
After reading this book I read all 35 Amazon reviews and was surprised that everyone had missed the point of this masterpiece. TE Lawrence wrote a masterwork of pro-homosexual propaganda. This book is about what it is meant to be a homosexual in an early 20th Century heterosexual world through the metaphor of a deceitful British Officer operating as a leader helping to create an uprising in the Arabic War zone in the First World War. Two further twists are added to the metaphor as Arabic culture is essentially homosexual in nature and Lawrence is forced to lie about the real British motivations throughout his time in Arabia. (But please be clear I am not gay). Lawrence learned how to operate successfully in the (for him totally foreign) Arabic world in the same way that gays had to learn how to operate in the heterosexual world of the West. But also kept secret the true British military intentions for over seven years in the same way that turn of the century gays were forced to stay in their closets, never revealing their true motivations.While the book is extremely long and uses a small font size, Lawrence's prose is exceedingly economical and many of his sentences are structured in a way that a good deal more is left unsaid, yet understood, than sneers from the pages. His contemptuous descriptions and scornful imagery of his fellow men make plain an underlying self-hatred that even thousands of hours of buttock pounding on a string of prize camels cannot relieve. The strongest and most irresistible impressions about Lawrence are formed during critical moments when he executes a man, turns his back on an armed robber and slowly rides away, gets horny when whipped by Turkish soldiers for refusing to service their officer, rides endless camel miles without complaint, repeatedly radically deprives himself of creature comforts, and uses an unassailable sense of irony whenever dealing with his commanding officers. Knowing that his past roles in the army included being one of the people that hand-colored military maps, reflected appropriately upon his character.
A good part of TE's current reputation was built by the 5 Oscar winning movie Lawrence of Arabia, but the movie is only loosely based on the book and takes only the story themes in the book that are most complimentary to TE and least aligned with history. The movie bests the book in scenery; the book wins in all other dimensions. TE's view of the world is not easily classified into a stereotype as he vacillates between extreme cynicism and innocent trust, and derisive commentary and respectful remarks. Nevertheless, he clearly had a world class intellect and the cunning of a terrorist. His insightful commentary on Arabs revealing them as tribal, inward-looking, blinkered, narrow-minded, unthinking, vengeful and insular explains why this book is still recommended reading at several leading Western military schools. By the end of the book, Lawrence was a real person, but not one I would like working on my team. His sarcastic, arrogant, disdainful, sardonic, acerbic, mordant, derogatory, uncomplimentary, depreciatory, critical, sniping, self-important, condescending, scathing, and mocking mindset would quickly tire me. Read the book if you want to fully understand why I wrote the sentence that way!!
Book Review: Excellent Narrative of Lawrence's Exploits!
Summary: 5 Stars
In 1919 A.D., author T.E. Lawrence wrote out in a 400,000 word book "the whole bitter account of his adventure (in Arabia) and of his disappointment over the conclusion which the Peace Conference seemed to put to it." Lawrence left that manuscript replete with notes and many photographs in a handbag at the Reading railway station which was then stolen from that location. Lawrence tried to recount what he had wrote, but he never intended it for publication. Later, he had it printed on a newspaper press in Oxford, in an edition limited characteristically to eight copies, of which three, were afterward destroyed. The resulting book, "Revolt In The Desert," is the descendant in furtherance of Lawrence's re-written book, which he himself was never quite satisfied with. It stands as a purely personal record of his account in Arabia and is the foundation (albeit an abridged one) for which Lawrence wrote "Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph," currently under review.
Lawrence gave the title to this work as a tribute to an unpublished work of fiction about seven cities that he had intended the same name. "Wisdom hath builded a house: she hath hewn out her seven pillars." --Book of Proverbs (9th Chapter, 1st Verse).
Seven Pillars is an extraordinary book detailing the life of T.E. Lawrence during his exploits as an English Officer assigned to Cairo, Egypt. Lawrence became engaged in the role of a guerilla fighter, intent on fostering Arab unity while appearing to serve his military superiors. The target of his ire being, primarily, the Turkish army in occupation of a large part of the Middle East area which culminates in the liberation of Damascus. Lawrence was well known for harassing the Turkish occupation army and for destroying their rail lines and communications.
Lawrence, however, was wary of British Petroluem interests and was always aware of the Empire's colonial designs for the region.
The strange and still mysterious figure of T.E. Lawrence has become legend and has attained nearly cult icon status. Although somewhat different than that which was promoted by the 1962 David Lean movie "Lawrence of Arabia;" "Seven Pillars" is a fantastic first person account of an important part of English history which has has substantially affected the United States and the world.
Private by even today's standards, Lawrence did much to try to find anonymity upon his return to England, including enlisting in the RAF and Tank Corps under nom de guerres. Seven Pillars encompasses the extraordinary narrative of Lawrence's exploits and should occupy shelf space in every Anglophile and historian's library.
Without hesitation, unblushingly 5 stars.
Book Review: Lawrence's "rare adventure."
Summary: 5 Stars
"In these pages," T.E. Lawrence writes in the Introductory Chapter of SEVEN PILLARS, "the history is not of the Arab movement, but of me in it. It is a narrative of daily life, mean happenings, little people. Here are no lessons for the world, no disclosures to shock peoples. It is filled with trivial things, partly that no one mistake for history the bones from which some day a man may make history, and partly for the pleasure it gave me to recall the fellowship of the revolt. We were fond together, because of the sweep of the open places, the taste of wild winds, the sunlight, and the hopes in which we worked" (p. 24).
"He was a poet, and a scholar, and a mighty warrior," one of the characters in Sir David Lean's 1962 movie, "Lawrence of Arabia," said about Lawrence. Like many readers, it was Lean's movie that prompted me to read Lawrence's personal account of the Arab revolt. Lawrence (1888-1935) was a British soldier (although it is unlikely that he ever considered himself a real soldier) who unified Arab factions against the occupying Turks in 1916. Written after World War I (1914-18) in 1919, SEVEN PILLARS follows Lawrence's guerrilla adventure through "the naked desert, under the indifferent heaven" (p. 29) and over the course of 660 pages into Damascus, Syria in October, 1918.
SEVEN PILLARS triumphs as a book in several ways. It may be read as Lawrence's unique, first-hand, account (drawn from his war-time notes) of the historical events later depicted in Lean's film. As such, SEVEN PILLARS is fascinating memoir and a great soldier's story, demonstrating Lawrence's keen memory and intellect. It may be read also as a "rare adventure" through a hostile Arabian environment (p. 158). As such, SEVEN PILLARS reads like an entertaining adventure novel, revealing Lawrence's talents as a writer. Or, it may be read as an insightful psychological study of the Arab mind wanting to chart its own course through history. As such, it will satisfy any reader interested in understanding the ongoing Middle East conflict.
G. Merritt
Book Review: One of the best books ever written!
Summary: 5 Stars
I first read this book in the early 1960s and because of it T. E. Lawrence became my favorite author. And after all of these years he still is. It's not a frivolous book; the writing does demand your attention and effort. The book is full of adventure, humor, history, analysis, and biographical insight of Lawrence and the Arabs and their life. And as other reviewers have noted, much of this book helps people understand the Arabic situation today.
No writer has ever provided a better psychological analysis or been more clear and honest about his strengths and weaknesses than T.E. Lawrence himself. Read what he wrote before you read what others have written.
A number of good reviews of this book have already been written here so I won't repeat their commentary. Just let me say that to really understand this book, it does help to have a useful background about TEL and his life. "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" represents only a couple of the early years in his adult life, yet those years strongly impact the rest of his life in many ways(approximately another 15 years). And, conversely, it's also true that the life he led after his Arabian adventure influenced the way he told the story of his experiences. The quickest way for readers to acquire this necessary background is to visit "TELawrence.net," a web site dedicated to placing all of T. E. Lawrence's writings online. The full text and publishing history of "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" and his other books, translations, and writings are there, as are approximately 700 of his letters, with many more to be added. It brings together in a searchable website all of T.E. Lawrence's published works and letters that went out of British copyright on 1 January 2006. In addition, UK copyright still covers writings by Lawrence that were first published after January 1, 1956. While the text of these writings cannot be posted, this site will tell you what they are, where to find them, and will identify them; each cite will include page references in the chronological and alphabetical contents lists.