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: War as Art
Summary: 5 Stars
The is a book about men for men... About 7800 names appear in the book, half of them 'Ali' and all of them male. And it is in a way a glorification of terrorism -- at least terrorist tactics, albeit devoted to an arguably noble end. So I think I might never have read it had I not been urged on by a close friend...
But it's one of those few books which has genuinely altered my perspective. I find I keep bringing it up in conversation. Whatever one may say about the veracity of the statements made -- I gather they are to some degree in doubt -- there is no doubt about the depth of Lawrence's character. He writes beautifully.
The book is a sort of combination of psychology, history and fabulous anecdotes -- many of the best of which did not appear in the movie, by the way...
Lawrence, of course, loved Arabia, and clearly had very profound reservations about what he did. He questioned the validity of involving himself in the future of the Arabs to the degree that he did. He clearly felt it might have future unforeseen consequences. And he spends a fair amount of time candidly exposing his own motivations and doubts.
The picture he presents of the Bedou is generous. Nevertheless, it's hard not to be left with some sense of amazement at the extent to which diplomacy was necessary and the skill with which Lawrence was able to pull it off. Auda after being insulted on one occasion has to be physically tied down for a half hour -- otherwise everyone felt sure he would have killed several people. Such people in most Western nations are locked up. But what we throw out in this culture, Lawrence regards as material that he uses to create a sort of work of art -- some of Lawrence's reservations about his actions were rooted in an awareness that it was to some degree a form of self expression. So Auda gets untied and put at the head of an army composed of men some of whom he would otherwise have shot on sight.
As a woman, I'd feel a little less left out if it were a little less great.
Book Review: Extraordinary Book by Extraordinary Man
Summary: 5 Stars
SEVEN PILLARS OF WISDOM would be that rarity, an extraordinary tale of action, adventure, politics, and introspection, told by a writer who was also a first-rate intellectual and man of letters (the two -are- different), if it weren't also part of a tradition in English letters: the man or woman such as Charles Doughty or Gertrude Bell or Hester Stanhope or Freya Stark, or the men who went off and played the Great Game in India and Afghanistan who willingly entered cultures alien to them and returned changed, with books for us.Of all of these, Lawrence has fascinated me most. I first read SEVEN PILLARS when I was twelve, and I've read it every couple of years since then. As I grow wiser, it grows richer.
Lawrence was an unlikely defender of empire, an unlikelier man of action who forced himself into a kind of ascetic mental and physical preparation for the great deeds he felt himself called upon to play. Living as he did from 1888 to 1935, he was practically born in the last age where someone could express that claim without being ridiculed; and he found his war in the Arab Revolt, that long-lasting sideline to the War to End All Wars that produced more war -- and some great writers, among whom Lawrence was one.
This is a story of war. It's also a story of heroism and of anguish, written by a man who not only shaped events, but was shaped -- and warped -- by them. It can be read as military strategy, political history, travel story, or pathology.
But it's better to read it as itself: a unique and complex book written by a man who was loved and admired by the most famous people of his time, but who, in the end, wanted only obscurity and the anesthetizing speed of one of the motorcycles that killed him.
Book Review: Lawrence - an Enigma and a Leader
Summary: 5 Stars
A junior officer in the intelligence offices in Cairo during the start of World War I, Lawrence rose to military fame as he applied his knowledge gained as a scholar to a burning drive to unit the Arabs in support of the British cause. Despite our image brought about by Peter O'Tool in the movie, Lawrence was a small man - five foot three in height - but with a physical presense of a giant.As a source, Lawrence's descriptions of the terrain and climate are amazingly accurate, the result of many years of study and personal contact. His descriptions of the people and culture of the Arabs and their neighbors, the Turks and Egyptians, are real, even to this day and circumstance.
His account was disturbing to many - so much detail over too many years instilled a seed of doubt about the authenticity of the information - others wondered if Lawrence had simply aggrandized himself. His book raised questions of ethics and morality, both personal and in the course of international diplomacy immediately after it's release, to the point where Lawrence forswore his commission and joined the enlisted ranks. He is unforgiving - pointing out fault - and praising - where he thought correct, often offending military officers and diplomats who were the subject of his writing.
Undoubtedly a troubled man - and truly an enigma. I choose to remember him as a hero - and an impeachable background source for such diverse aspects as locale and ethnic physical descriptions and European/Arab political intrigue, all still applicable today as a source for my own writing about the Middle East.
Book Review: Feel This Book
Summary: 5 Stars
I must admit I read this book for the wrong reasons. Namely, I wanted to spite a few adults who said I couldn't do it and wouldn't believe I can take it (I was twelve), and 'cause I thought it'd be like the movie, which I didn't see.So I took it out from the library. Only it wasn't what I expected. It was big -huge, thick, you name it, and looked heavy.
It was weird reading it, since it was so different from the Lawrence of the myth, of the man who led a desert revolt agains the Turks, the tall, elegant man in flowing white desert dress as seen of Peter O'Toole. (Lawrence was actually 5'5" or thereabouts)
Frequently contradictory without sounding convoluted (unlike my review), the one writing was more of a guy who was unusually scared of pain, yet had a machoistic streak. (...) He was also a neurotic, often indecisive, and faultfinding, yet thought himself a war hero, no matter how deprecating he sounded on print, or how he sought anonymity; it was as if he had a huge secret he WANTED people to find out.
Through it all, Lawrence spares himself no humiliation, telling it all with brutal honesty, self-mockery (am I repeating myself?), and more, by turns lyrical and nightmarish.
I expected an adventure -and I got that too. I was swept up by his descriptive imagery (ugh, I AM repeating myself), and everything I mentioned before.
Maybe it's because, in retrospect, it gets better every time (I read it twice). Of course, that's up to you to decide -if you're up to the challenge.
Book Review: A Unique Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the great books of the 20th century. That it could be written at all is almost a miracle in itself. Take a brilliant Oxford student trained in the old classical tradition, place him in the Arabian desert as advisor to the wild Bedouin tribesmen during their revolt against the Turks and have him write with an acute sensitivity and unparalleld insight into what was transpiring before him and you may have some notion of what the book is like.
It's a long book. You will learn a great deal about blowing up a railroad bridge in the desert, about camel rides, thirst, and hunger and the heroism and brutality of war. The portraits of Sheik Auda, Sherrif Ali and Prince Faisal of the two Arab boys who Lawrence takes under his wing are masterpieces in and of themselves. The nobility and savagery of the desert tribesmen contrasted with the cold stoicism of the British and the inculcated cruelty of the Turks are just some of themes addressed during the course of the work. There are brilliant passing insights as to the Semitic inspiration for all the revealed religions and their relation to the desert beautiful descripitions of the terrain the weather and the obstacles encountered. When Lawrence says that from the beginning he believed the Arab revolt would succeed because it grew out of a sympathetic population was opposed by a modern army that could not garrison the territory occupied one wishes that President Bush had read it instead of just seeing the movie. Read it yourself.