T E Lawrence

Revolt in the Desert is the extraordinary story of the war in Arabia between 1916 and 1918, written by one of the war's most extraordinary characters, Lawrence of Arabia. It tells of his adventures and life amongst the Arab tribesmen, the daring raids on the Turks, the demolition of railway lines, the attacking of desert outposts, and of the opening of 'the road to Damascus' and eventual overthrow of the Turks in the inhospitable landscape of the Middle East. Few had made headway with the Bedouin and Arabs before Lawrence, but his strength of character and his personality suited this war perfectly and he was soon considered to be hugely important in the fight in the Middle East both by his superiors and by the Arabs who rallied around him. This is his story, from his viewpoint. T. E. Lawrence truly was a great writer on the Great War.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom is the autobiographical account of the experiences of British soldier Thomas Edward Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"), while serving as a liaison officer with rebel forces during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turks of 1916 to 1918. This is the 1926 edition of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO (16 August 1888-19 May 1935), known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British Army officer renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule of 1916-18. The breadth and variety of his activities and associations, and his ability to describe them vividly in writing, earned him international fame as "Lawrence of Arabia".

WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY ROBERT FISKSeven Pillars of Wisdom is an unusual and rich work. Seven Pillars of Wisdom provides a unique portrait of this extraordinary man and an insight into the birth of the Arab nation

År 1939 utkom föreliggande samling texter och rapporter av T. E. Lawrence, som han skrev i sin tjänst som underrättelseofficer i Mellanöstern och som hade tryckts i den interna brittiska tidskriften Arab Bulletin. Materialet är särskilt intressant ur politisk och historisk synpunkt och ger nödvändig bakgrundsinformation till Lawrences mest berömda bok, Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Denna volym innehåller ett förord av islamologen Jan Hjärpe och väsentliga komplement, såsom kronologi, kartor och kommentarer, samt två supplementavdelningar med texter som inte ursprungligen utgavs i 1939 års utgåva, men som ytterligare och djupare presenterar Lawrences engagemang i Mellanöstern. "EDWARD W. SAlD har i boken Orientalism funnit att Lawrence "reducerar hela berättelsen om revolten (dess tillfälliga framgångar och bittra misslyckande) till hans egen vision av sig själv som ett 'ständigt pågående inbördeskrig"'. Även om man ser det så handlar det om en mycket fängslande historielektion om en mytomspunnen, extraordinär gestalt: Lawrence av Arabien". (UNT)

With an Introduction by Angus Calder. As Angus Calder states in his introduction to this edition, 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom is one of the major statements about the fighting experience of the First World War'. Lawrence's younger brothers, Frank and Will, had been killed on the Western Front in 1915. Seven Pillars of Wisdom, written between 1919 and 1926, tells of the vastly different campaign against the Turks in the Middle East - one which encompasses gross acts of cruelty and revenge and ends in a welter of stink and corpses in the disgusting 'hospital' in Damascus. Seven Pillars of Wisdom is no Boys Own Paper tale of Imperial triumph, but a complex work of high literary aspiration which stands in the tradition of Melville and Dostoevsky, and alongside the writings of Yeats, Eliot and Joyce.