Customer Reviews

Lawrence Of Arabia (Da Capo Paperback)

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I strongly recommend this book. Unlike most of the bio related books you can read on Lawrence, this one is dedicated to how he waged war (and written by an expert in warfare). Lawrence's methods were so advanced that they resonate to this day. For example, he developed methods of system disruption that incapactitated a "modern" army and threw an empire into disorder. You can see these methods in play today in modern Iraq. Well worth the time you spend.

While not the best biography on the subject (that honor would go to John Mack's A Prince of Our Disorder), this account, while laudatory in the extreme, has the advantage of having been written by someone who actually knew Lawrence, and who had his subject's input. If it sound at times like a Boy's Own Adventure volume, it also has the immediacy which many other accounts lack, and one gets the feeling that Liddell Hart harbored a deep admiration for his subject.

Liddell's book is enjoyable and well-written. However, it was written prior before a lot of relavent material on T.E. Lawrence was made public. Mack's biography of Lawrence (PRINCE OF OUR DISORDER) is much more comprehensive. All in all, however, it is a book well-worth reading for anyone interested in tracing the entire evolution of T.E. Lawrence's legend/story.

Sir Liddel-Hart knew TE personally and admired him greatly. Liddel-Hart began this work as a general work on the Arab revolt but ended up waxing poetic about his longtime friend and hero. At times it may be a bit too gushing but the fact that TE was an incredible individual is without dispute and Sir Liddel Hart would not be the first to succumb to hero-worship. TE Lawrence's story is one with many lessons about a people who have grown weary with being ignored by the world. TE Lawrence saw himself as a savior of sorts for such peoples in the Arab world. His contributions to irregular warfare are numerous and Sir Liddel Hart is the perfect choice to bring those lessons to us in describing the life of Lawrence. The language is grand and sweeping making it an easy and enjoyable read while telling us much about the life and campaigns of TE Lawrence. A great resource for anyone interested in his life or in his contributions to military history.

This is a great analysis of the Lawrence's career in battle. It explains the military significance of Lawrence's actions, places those actions in historical context, and gives the reader a bigger picture of the campaign by detailing the other forces' actions. Of course, Liddell Hart is an excellent writer and the prose is great. Further, Liddell Hart's background as a strategist is very prominent in his analysis of Lawrence. If you are a Liddell Hart fan, you should read (or reread) Strategy: Second Revised Edition (Meridian) - it's very interesting to see how Liddell Hart's views of irregular warfare changed as he had the perspective of time to analyze the effects of Lawrence's actions in the Middle East.

With due respect to the other reviewers (and I mean that, since obviously we have some common interests!), I think the comparison to A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T. E. Lawrence is misplaced. Prince is, at it's heart, a psychological analysis of Lawrence, which Arabia does not try to be or claim to be. True, there are 50 pages in the beginning giving the reader background on Lawrence, but when this was written there wasn't a great biography. And, while there are 50-60 pages at the end on Liddell Hart's personal interactions with Lawrence, I viewed this more as a great first hand account of what it was like to know him, rather than an attempt at a comprehensive biography.

If you've read Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph: The Complete 1922 Text and thought, "Lawrence is an interesting fellow and I'd like to know more about the man" then I suggest you read Prince first, then this book. If, on the other hand, you were more interested in the military action, I'd read this and then Prince. Either way, however, no study of Lawrence would be complete without this book for his military career and Prince for his personal life.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in military matters or T.E. Lawrence.