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Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia

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We live in an age of celebrity as created by an immense media industry. Lawrence of Arabia embodied the word celebrity; in fact he may have been the 20th century's first real celebrity as Lindberg came after him. This book cries out to be read by a readership that understands that heroes do in fact exist. This word hero has been much misused in modern day America to apply to people that the word was never intended for.

Lawrence was very much a hero, as well as many other things. He was a military genius on a level with Napoleon. He also possessed a genius for guerilla warfare and his techniques are taught at West Point as we speak. Possessing a talent for writing, his Seven Pillars of Wisdom is considered a literary masterpiece. His direct actions changed the entire map of the Middle East, and the inability of politicians to adjust to the realities of this region that Lawrence saw so vividly have led to the chaos that we see in the Middle East today.

Sheikh Hamoud had it right when he wrote so many years ago of Lawrence:

My heart was iron, but his was steel

If you love great, gifted, writing on an immense topic describing a man that truly impacted and changed the world that he saw, than Michael Korda's biography of Lawrence of Arabia is for you. This is a 700 page narrative before footnotes and biography. The quality of the paper used in the book is fabulous, and this is due to Korda's lifetime in the publishing industry. The selection of the font and the feel of the book left nothing to chance. Korda thought through every aspect of this project and brought it off with flair, and panache.

He is a master storyteller and he has demonstrated considerable scholarship in creating this page turner which is so sweeping in scope covering one of the giants of the 20th century. Here are just a few of the things you will learn about Lawrence of Arabia:

* In his early 30's he translated Homer's The Odyssey which then became accepted as the classic account of Homer's work.

* Why King George on Lawrence's untimely death in 1935 said his name will live in history?

* He possessed a dazzling display of knowledge, almost Einstein like in the topics he could converse in. Lawrence never did anything halfway. If he was in, he was in all the way.

* As a young man, an illegitimate son, along with 4 other brothers, he managed to do amazing things at Oxford. He studied and more importantly absorbed the works of every great military tactician including Admiral Mahan, and Creasy's 15 Decisive Battles of the World. Lawrence's own thesis, The Influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture was recognized as an act of genius when he presented it.

* Liddell Hart considered to be one of the truly eminent military writers of the 20th century compared Lawrence to Napoleon, and used the term Napoleon coined "le coup doeil de genie" which means quick glance of genius. What this describes is that Lawrence had the scarce ability to look at a map (remember he was also a master mapmaker) and immediately know where to attack based on a unique ability in a glance to know intuitively how to attack. This is still studied at West Point, and is very rare in generals throughout history.

* If you want to know the depth of his influence on all who came after him, than consider this. Mao Zedong led a revolution in China based on his writings and theories. Ho Chi Minh forced the United States out of Viet Nam based on Lawrence's theories of guerilla war. I haven't even mentioned Castro and Che in Cuba using Lawrence as a blueprint for winning in Cuba. Lawrence is the original creator of the road side bomb we now see in Iraq and Afghanistan. He knew how to strike light, and disappear into the night. The term turn weakness into strength is his.

* The story of the making of the David Lean movie, Lawrence of Arabia which was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, and won 7 is told here in a beautiful fashion. Only Sam Spiegel, the producer at Columbia Pictures could have gotten this movie done. You will learn how the part was first offered to Leslie Howard, Lawrence Olivier, and then Albert Finney, until settling on newcomer Peter O'Toole.

In conclusion, if you love history and the grand expanse of extraordinary people doing extraordinary things then you are going to love this book. Lawrence was Hollywood handsome with a magnetic personality and charisma to match. His influence directly led to the creation of the modern Jordan, and the UAR (United Arab Republic). Iraq and Syria now owe their modern boundaries to Lawrence. Since the 1960's England has opened up its secret historical files on Lawrence. We now know that all the wild stories about Lawrence are true. It actually comes down to this. Lawrence did what he said he did, and even downplayed his own role in the affairs of which we know about.

I promise you that if you begin reading this book, you will not put it down, and you will be transfixed by what a gifted writer like Korda can do with a legendary impactful figure like Lawrence of Arabia. Thank you for reading this review.

Richard C. Stoyeck

This a very well writen and interesting book about a facinating man who lived and was a major player during a critical period in our history.

However, there are 1-3 typos on almost every page of the book I have read so far and I'm on chapter 4. Almost all of the typos involve one, two or sometimes three words bunched together to form word-abominations such as:

"himhave" "timewas" "anadventure" "discribinghis" etc.

I guess these errors were introduced when the book was digitized. I also guess that the book was not proof-read after this procedure.

These errors are begining to distract from my reading pleasure. A corrected version would be appreciated.

What a beautifully written biography of Lawrence of Arabia. Michael Korda brings back Lawrence of Arabia to our present time in such a masterful way that the reader feels himself becoming part of the story; a true story that encompasses one of the most important events of the 20th century, the first world war and the partition of the Ottoman Empire, contrary to Lawrence's idea on how the partition should be executed, into the Middle East that we now know. Korda's gift to us is not only his comprehension of events past, which are right on target, but the even flow of his writing that translates his knowledge and comprehension into scenes that are fascinating.

By necessity consisting in large part of countless lengthy quotations from Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom, the author nevertheless fills in with a wealth of information and insight which I have never before seen, despite having read and re-read the work of Lawrence and many of his biographers almost religiously for many years now.

The Preface is remarkable in that it points precisely to Lawrence's unique appeal, that he was "a hero not by accident, or even by singular act of heroism, but ... made himself a hero by design ... [and] became the victim of his own fame."

The closing pages of Chapter 12 provide a touching account of Lawrence's funeral and the gifted description of his friend Robert Storrs of the moment the casket was closed.

The collection of photographs is, to me at least, by far the best I have yet seen and is well-placed in the text.

The clue to the full name of "S.A.", to whom Seven Pillars was dedicated, always and still assumed to be Dahoum, is something I have not previously noticed.

One of Lawrence's many deadpan remarks which I have seen in passing before, but which struck me as particularly stinging and even more true today, was his cynical observation that America had a "particular combination of idealism and commerce." That style is so very like many statements made by Feisal and directed at France. Of course anyone who has ever had the misfortune of working with a Frenchman is automatically an admirer of all things for which T.E. Lawrence fought.

On Iraq, Lawrence, 90 years ago, "saw very clearly that the object should never be to invade or occupy territory with troops -- a waste of time, manpower, and money -- ... but to threaten punishment from the air, and only when necessary, carry it out." What a shame our recent leaders
seem not to have been well read-in on the history of the region in that regard, while it seems they certainly did grasp the Arab concept of blood feud and avenging family honor only too well.

No matter how many times I read words written by Lawrence, I never fail to find something new.

The title HERO references Michael Korda's contention that T. E. Lawrence (T. E. Shaw, Lawrence of Arabia) wanted to become a hero and had the opportunity to become one and succeeded beyond his expectations. Thus he became one of the 20th Centuries first "celebrities" mostly due to the promotion of Lowell Thomas's highly successful lectures, films and book. Korda maintains that Lawrence was the Princes Diana of his time. (This comparison being a good way to provide today's reader with an idea of the impact Lawrence had on the media culture of his own time.)
Despite the book being a bit uneven I found HERO a wonderful read. The first part through page 114 is a rather dry telling of Lawrence's major accomplishment in World War One. It covers Lawrence's meeting with Prince Feisal the background of the Arab revolt against the Turks and the Arab taking the port city of Aqaba. (The actual events are significantly different than shown in the great David Lean film.) This early flashback section contains important information and sets the tone for what follows but I doubt many will find it to be page turning reading. But keep going and don't give up.
Because then the book takes off and is quite an enjoyable ride as Korda goes back in time to Lawrence's childhood, family, education (at Oxford), and his interest in archeology, the middle east, and crusader castles. Korda frames all this so we can see how Lawrence swept himself along with heroic self images (and many self doubts). As if Lawrence knew he was preparing himself for something big for he became one of a few who understood the Middle East. (In fact after the war Lawrence had Middle East solutions that if implemented may have minimized many of the events we see today.)
Korda narrative provides an interesting analysis as he often presents the conflicting views about controversial observations of Lawrence by prior biographers and Lawrence's contemporaries. Lawrence was not a loner as many think, but a people person (and to a certain degree a people user) who had many friends and developed vital relationships. This he did through an uncanny ability to change his own personality and stories to suite that of his listener thus providing different views of his personality thus providing history with the fuel that formed the enigma that is the Lawrence legend.
I especially liked the fact the Korda spent a lot of time covering the creative side of Lawrence's character. How he wrote and rewrote SEVEN PILLARS OF WISDOM and went about publishing it. This and many post war events are most interestingly told by Korda.
For the most part Korda explains away the controversial questions about Lawrence as being nothing more than media hype. Taking things out of context and making more of normal human reactions than they deserve. Yet we see the influences on what may have created the real, human and complex person Lawrence was. His short stature although he did not appear to have the stereotypical short man complex. At 5 foot 5 inches Lawrence was very thin mostly around 130 pounds, but at one point in the war he was down to 88 pounds. He was illegitimate (a big negative in the class structure of the country in the early 1900s). His mother was extremely religious and his father walked away from title, property, and a family (a wife and four daughters) to run away with Lawrence's mother. Korda provides the reader more with emphasis and credence on Lawrence's relationship and feelings about his father than other biographers do.
I could go on and on about many interesting things Korda does in bringing Lawrence to life on the page but I suggest you discover the book on your own.
As an FYI, I have had an almost life long interest (hobby) in Lawrence and have collected may books and articles about him. This started when father took my brother and me to see the film a week after he had seen in 1962 as he had been intrigued by Lawrence as a boy. If you're interesting in reading or learning more you might consider exploring the following.
In several places Korda references Jeremy Wilson's book, LAWERENCE OF ARABIA: THE AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPY OF T. E. LAWRENCE (1990). This is an exceptionally fine and very detailed and well documented work which may contain more military details than many readers want to know. (Unfortunately I don't believe it is currently in print.) Mr. Wilson and his wife Nichole now own Castle Hill Press where they have edited and published very limited, fine copies of Lawrence's works and letters. I own several of these volumes and they are wonderfully produced. Their most recent publication is Lawrence's THE MINT. (Castle Hill Press can be found on the internet.)
I also greatly admired John E. Mack's A PRINCE OF OUR DISORDER, THE LIFE OF T. E. LAWRENCE (1976) which won the Pulitzer Prize. It is a psychological study with emphasis on how ones world view impacts relationships. (Mack went on later to do very controversial studies with people who claimed to have been abducted by aliens.)
I recommend a reading of many of Lawrence's letter. The volume I most enjoyed is THE LETTERS OF T. E. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1938, my Spring Books volume is 1964), edited by David Garnett with a forward by Captain B. H. Liddell Hart.

Hero is well organized, meticulously researched and beautifully written. The rest of this review is a response to the review titled "Unexpected" which criticizes Korda's long sentences. First, Korda doesn't write only long sentences: the last sentence of the preface is only three words long. Second, there's nothing wrong with long sentences per se. Maybe you're just not used to them. Some of the most skilled writers wrote/write in long sentences. Sentence length is a matter of taste. Some thoughts are so closely tied to, or dependent upon, others that some writers like to include them in the same sentence, even if this makes the sentence long. Korda's expert use of colons, dashes, and semi-colons (think of the colons--and in some instances the dashes and semi-colons--as periods) should help you get through them. Strunk & White's Elements of Style will help you learn what marks of punctuation mean. Korda respects his craft. In an age in which many writers spoon feed the reader, it's refreshing to find one who simply provides a knife and fork.

This is the best of the several biographies of Lawrence that I have read -- good enough to take its place alongside Seven Pillars of Wisdon. But...

Why is the Kinbdle version so typographically ugly? Do publishers think that proof reading is unnecessary for eBooks? Words run together. Capital letters missing. It is a mess. Considering that this is a new title it should have been given the same care in preparation as the paper version. And it is not cheap. Too many Kindle books sloppily flung together like this will sour one on the eExperience.

Who did this? Harper Collins or Amazon? Whoever, shame on you!

This is one of the best biographies which was published this year. It is not an easy task to write a biography for many reasons. The writer must get to know as many angles,facts and events about his subject as possible,and he or she must also have a very good command and knowledge of the various sources which will be used to convey to the reader the best and most accurate pictureof his chosen topic.
Mr. Michael Korda has managed to do all these in a big volume which does not have even one dull moment. What starts as a long chapter about the famous capture of Aqaba by Lawrence and his Arab fellows turns out to be just the beginning and the introduction to the whole book.
T.E.Lawrence was one of many illegitimate children of a British aristocrat who ran way with his daughters' governess. After having been sent to Oxford where he read archaeology, T.E.Lawrence wrote a famous thesis on medieval military architecture. It was this subject which introduced him to the Arab world. He served as a young intelligence officer in Cairo in 1916 and after that spent his time in Charchemish,the Hitttite city where he got acquainted with the Arab life and manners. He did study Arabic and it was here where he met a young boy,called Darhoum,who was perhaps his only true love in life. Lawrence was sexually repressed and this was the result of his mother's tough upbringing.Later on,he was brutally sodomized by a Turk and it was this episode which changed his life.
But this book is not about the erotic and homosexual experiences of Lawrence,who was also called Ned.It is about his major achievements and accomplishments both in the military field and the diplomatic ones. His destiny was to give the Arabs a land of their own and to cause "the sick man of Europe," namely the Turks,to disappear from those parts of the world. His mission was accomplished and Mr.Korda gives us an extremely balanced view about all the possible aspects of Lawrence's life. It was Lawrence who made it possible for states like Syria,Jordan and Iraq to emerge as independent ones, although he was attacked by both Arabs and Jews for being biased against them. He also made sure that King Feisal be convinced that a Jewish state would be only a good thing for the Arab world,but has not succeeded in this.
Among his many friends in England from whom he sought advice about his literary projects were also Bernard Shaw and the rest of the Fabian Society.
Mr.Korda emphasizes Lawrence's military successes,his connections with General Allenby his and guerrilla tactics as well as his difficult task at the 1919 Paris Conference to do everything to convince the Great Powers about his messianic mission to bring deliverance to the Arabs.
Lawrence was a very complicated man and full of contradictions,who achieved a celebrity status being a visionary ahead of his times,a brilliant diplomat,a serious scholar and a military genius. All these things turned Lawrence into a hero.
The legend of Lawrence has kept growing after his death and,as the author puts it,the Library of Congress "lists more than 100 books about him".
If you would like to enjoy a book written in the old-fashioned way and would also like to be entertained by a great figure and a great biographer,I advise you to read this book,which is a splendid and vivid portrait of one of the most enigmatic persons who has ever lived.

My subtitle for "Hero" would be "More about Lawrence of Arabia than You Ever Wanted to Know." This is a 700 page book which could have used some strong editing. Around 450 pages would have been perfect. It is not a page turner as advertised on the back cover. It is, however, a great work by a fine historian. I was not after great detail about decisions of how to publish "Seven Pillars of Wisdom." This said, I am just an average reader who enjoys good history. Those who are academics or scholars of Lawrence and his era should revel in this book.

I was put off by the author's decision about placing the Arab revolt at the beginning of the book. Later, the author details Lawrence's early years and family background. I would have preferred a chronological approach.

So what was good about "Hero?" The research by the author was excellent. He presented a very fair view of Lawrence the man and did not seem to have agendas to push. From this point of view, it is an superb work. I feel I know now who Lawrence was and how he lived his life. The reader with a casual interest in Lawrence might want to read the chapters on the Arab revolt and the final chapter, "Life After Death." If one is curious whether they will like the book or not, have a listen at Korda's interviews here on Amazon. He talks like he writes. In hindsight, I would prefer to read Wilson's biography of Lawrence.

This was a fascinating book, terrific action, insightful history, humor and character. I wasn't very familiar with Lawrence of Arabia before reading the book, so his adventures during the Arab revolt and the subsequent peace negotiations were new to me, and so thrilling to read. It was also fascinating to see how the problems we experience now in the Middle East all trace back to choices made 100 years ago. Korda's scholarship is evident in his unflinching detail and description of events both mesmerizing and repulsive. The action sequences have such presence and the description of the many battles were very visceral as well as creating a real word picture.

The second half of the book tells the story of what happens to a man who at the age of 29 is a world renown war hero, has negotiated with Prime Ministers of all the major powers and is friends with royalty from around the world, but has lost access to much of what has made him happy up to this point. This story is less exciting, and while still fascinating - it is somewhat sad.

TE Lawrence was an amazing, and complicated man. His is a story worth reading, and this version of the story is well written and enjoyable.