Customer Reviews

The Golden Warrior: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nearly finished this book but thought I would share my comments now.

The book is written very much for someone who already knows about Lawrence's life and is adding this to their collection.
It doesn't seem to take into account that you might actually want to read about his life and be kept in some suspense about what will happen. He jumps back and forth in time quite a lot in the beginning because he tends to first discuss a period in high level before then dealing with it in a chapter. Very annoying as if you're reading a masters thesis which lays out
all its conclusions at the beginning and the rest of the book is an attempt to back up those statements. Takes a lot of the fun out of the read.

I read recently Rice's biography of Capt. Sir Richard Francis Burton and this really demonstrated a much better way of presenting a biography.

The author is faced with the difficult task of showing that T.E. Lawrence embellished his own deeds without taking away from what he did accomplish. While the myths about the man are interesting (the classic Lawrence of Arabia movie) the real story is far more interesting. A great book.

Every famous story has a true story behind it, and "Lawrence of Arabia" is no different. "The Golden Warrior: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia" looks to tell the true story of this historic figure. T.E. Lawrence slowly rose to international fame for standing up to Europe's imperialism in the middle east. A superstar following World War I for being both an advisor to Winston Churchill and one of the people fighting against him, his story is a riveting tale that is timeless. "The Golden Warrior" is a must for anyone who wants to know the entire Lawrence of Arabia story.

The Golden Warrior: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia attempts a straight academic biography of an extremely difficult subhect. Notable historian Lawrence James provides relatively little original research or fresh insight, and his analysis occasionally grates. Nonetheless, he deserves credit for an intriguingly complex portrait of Lawrence.

Despite his cynicism towards the "Lawrence legend," James scrupulously rebukes many critical claims. Addressing Phillip Knightley and Colin Simpson's accusations of pre-war espionage (The Secret Lives of Lawrence of Arabia), James argues Lawrence the archaeologist "would have found out nothing... not already well-known to the British government" (45). He also tersely dismisses conspiracy theorizing about Lawrence's death as "thriller fantasy" (495). Between this and his healthy skepticism towards Lawrence's own writings, James establishes himself as a credible biographer.

The most interesting sections involve the Lawrence legend itself. James has a deep background in British history, and he does a great job placing Lawrence's fame in context. In the grim aftermath of World War I, James shows how much the English-speaking world needed a hero like Lawrence, who mixed traditional romanticism with modern "common man" appeal. He also captures Lawrence's complicity in starting the legend, and mixed feelings of its perpetuation. James ends the book with an overview of Lawrence's portrayal in biography and popular media, growing and mutating to meet cultural needs and the whims of biographers.

Like other authors, James views Lawrence through his fantasies. Chafing at a strict but not unhappy childhood, the young Lawrence tested his physical limits, traveled abroad and plunged himself into foreign cultures. Enraptured by Morte d'Arthur and The Odyssey, Lawrence viewed his life as a saga, with himself as its oversized hero. This medievalism also informs Lawrence's love of the simple Bedouin and aversion towards the educated "town Arabs." John Mack (A Prince of Our Disorder) and Desmond Stewart (T.E. Lawrence) advanced ideas of this argument on a personal level, but James explores it in the broader context of Edwardian England.

When James gets to the war years, his analysis grows mixed. He convincingly argues that Lawrence's views on the Middle East - especially his skepticism towards France and hatred of Turkey - evolved in concert with his Arab Bureau colleagues, belying the idea that Lawrence was a committed imperialist from the start. He disparages the Arab Revolt, conceding its propaganda value but trotting out the old canard of gold-hungry tribesmen. He argues the Arabs achieved little militarily, a questionable assessment in light of recent books like James Barr's Setting the Desert on Fire. Despite these critiques, James gladly acknowledges Lawrence's skilful leadership.

James adds little new or insightful about Lawrence's strange post-war career. He dutifully recounts Lawrence's work in the Colonial Office, his service as a "gentleman ranker," his bizarre relationship with John Bruce and brushing shoulders with the likes of Bernard Shaw and Robert Graves while dining with gruff RAF flyers. Lawrence's post-war career is fascinating, but James doesn't bring much to the table here.

James casts a skeptical eye on Seven Pillars of Wisdom, pointedly highlighting Lawrence's exaggerations. Interestingly, James notes Lawrence's embellishment extended to his official reports, rendering many contemporary documents suspect. However, James' textual analysis is spotty. He views Lawrence's descriptions of the Deraa incident and Turkish atrocities at Tafas as justification for later Arab massacres of the Turks. The bloodcurdling depiction of Tafas, and Lawrence's loudly-stated revulsion to bloodshed, bely James's argument. James is wedded to the idea of Seven Pillars as a carefully-structured novel, interesting in specific cases but overstated in general.

James devotes a long chapter to Lawrence's capture and rape at Deraa (pp. 245-263). He raises the usual objections, from Lawrence's inconsistency in accounts to some eyewitness testimony to Hajim Bey's heterosexuality. His bombshell is a diary entry from a colleague at Aqaba, which supposedly proves Lawrence could not have been in Deraa at the time of incident. Jeremy Wilson rebutted this "evidence" on his website. James then moves on from factual matters to speculation that Deraa serves as a "coded" admission of Lawrence's sexual preference.

James goes beyond the usual arguments on this matter, claiming that Lawrence was a practicing homosexual. He makes the most of Seven Pillars' description of Bedouin man-love, and John Bruce's tale of flogging is hard to discount. Beyond these old chestnuts, James is grasping at straws. He repeats Desmond Stewart's spurious "Bluebeard" story, liberally quotes the dubious Richard Meinertzhagen ("boy or girl?") and even suggests Lawrence was about to be arrested for indecency prior to his death. The fact that such rumors existed is suggestive, but does not constitute evidence.

The Golden Warrior remains a worthy biography all the same. If James criticizes Lawrence's vanity and self-aggrandizement, he also praises his intelligence, heroism, tactical skill and charisma. "Why Lawrence felt impelled to embellish his achievement and then repudiate the fame they offered him remains inexplicable," James notes (433), nicely summing up one of history's most enigmatic figures.

According to Lawrence James's account, the Lawrence of Arabia most of us know is largely a myth concocted in accordance with TE Lawrence's huge ego and his overwhelming desire to present the Arabs, for whom he desperately wanted to secure the right of self-rule, in the best light. James concludes that much of what we think we know about Lawrence, including his infamous rape by the Turks, are lies. This is a very interesting book about a controversial figure.