Customer Reviews

Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

It is difficult to describe the experience of reading The Seven Pillars. It is by turns beautiful and ugly. It is military history. It is a subjective view provided by a man very much of his time. It is an apology and an excuse for the necessities of war. It is a portrait of a tribe that Lawrence came to respect and even love. It is a travel book about life in the desert at the time of writing. It is inevitably a mix of fact and history and fiction and probably at least a little bit of wishful thinking.

It is, ultimately, a pretty amazing book to read.

A few notes:

Before you read the book, do some quick background reading on the history that's involved. This will help avoid confusion.

Be prepared for a long read! It's not only a long book, it's an extremely dense book. The choppiness and frequent changes in tone make it hard to put on the reading cruise control.

Read it as a product of its time. Lawrence was a fascinating man, but not without his prejudices or faults.

(This review pertains only to the BN Publishing company's hardcover edition of T.E. Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom.")

I bought this edition of "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" because it was the only hardcover version available at the time. I'm a big advocate of hardcover books, but avoid this one. I get the sense that the publishers simply took an old copy of the book, scanned it, converted the scan into a basic word processing document, and published it. If that is what happened, they never bothered to read through their generated document to check for basic typographical errors.

For example, on page 488 the text reads: "They circled off We, watching their line of/light, noticed a great cloud of apparent dust added to the slow smoke rising from the ruined yard at Mafrak station." In that sentence, it appears that a period has been omitted, a slash has been inserted, and a capital S has been rendered in lower case. That one is easy enough that I can work out what the text is supposed to say. But there are errors of this sort on almost every single page, and Lawrence employs a difficult writing style as it is. These excessive typographical errors significantly detract from the readability of the book.

A second serious problem-- there is not a single map in this book, though Lawrence did include a map in earlier editions. There are points of the story where it is necessary to know where things are situated in order to appreciate what is going on. It got to the point where I found and downloaded some maps from the internet, and taped them inside the covers of my book. I refrenced these maps constantly. The publishers did include some photographs in the back matter, but they were either too cheap or too lazy to include a map.

T.E. Lawrence has written a book that is worth reading (coming from me, that's pretty high praise), but avoid thie error-ridden fly-by-night edition.

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.

This book stands alone in the history of military memoirs. The book as a literary achievement and the subject of the book as a personal achievement are both unparalleled. What Lawrence did in WWI - unite the Arab tribes in a common fight against the Turks - was remarkable not only because no one thought it could be done but also because it was done by a man with no power or influence beyond what he could inspire by his own presense. Lawrence, a scholar before the war working as a mapmaker for the British army, was about as far removed from anyone's ideas of a military hero as could be. He nevertheless did the impossible and that story, no matter who tells it, is as fascinating as any that ever came out of warfare.

Equally fascinating is the book itself. A blend of truth and evasion, the book is told in a beautiful lazy style that suggests it had been thought out with the vast Arabian desert and ancient way of life in mind. It is helpful to have read another account of Lawrence's life, just to be sure of what is happening when he chooses to be vague, but the beauty of the writing and the insight of the keen intelligence from which it springs, is a great delight to experience.

Even more amazing is to realize that after this monumental book was completed, Lawrence left the complete manuscript - the only copy - on the London subway and had to recreate it from scratch using just his notes. This is a remarkable testiment to both his focus when he needed it, and his tendency to be frequently apart from the real world. A remarkable man. A remarkable book. Unique and worthy to be read and enjoyed.

Movies are often more dazzling than the events they are based upon, but this is a rare instance in which even Hollywood and David Lean could not do justice to their larger than life subject matter. Although Lawrence seemed to think he was writing a history of WWI in the middle east, his account of the war is episodic and confusing. But that doesn't matter at all. This is one of the most astounding adventure stories ever told, all the more amazing because it's true. Or, if you're not an adventure enthusiast, read it as a travelogue of the middle east. Lawrence will fascinate you with such seemingly prosaic things as the texture of the Arabian sand. In many ways, this is one of the greatest books ever written. Lawrence was, however, a product of his times. His attitude toward the Arab people vascillates between admiration and patronization, and some readers might find this aspect of the book distasteful.

Genral Abizaid quotes this book on a regular basis. The London Times (May 22, 2005) reports every American working as a liaison officer with the Arabs carries a copy of this book with them. This month's Army Magazine (online version, July, 2005) has an article called T.E. Lawrence and the Mind of an Insurgent. In it Genearl Giap (who whipped us in Viet Nam) is quoted as saying that Seven Pillars of Wisdom was his guerilla war bible, that he never went anywhere without it. My point is, T.E. Lawrence's well deserved reputation as a military genius has been fully restored after decades of angry revisionists taking out their frustration over the mess in the Middle East on Mr. Lawrence. This book is all things to all people. If you're looking for a vivid, intense description of war in the desert, this is where to go. If you want a damn good adventure story with well drawn characters, look no further. No better travel book has ever been written about the Middle East. Want to understand the Arab mind as well as a Westerner can? This is where to start. As a penetrating, revealing self analysis it has no equal. And, as General Giap and Abizaid have said, there is no better guide to guerilla war. This book is a masterpiece on every level and we should be so grateful we have it.

I first read this book in the early 1960s and because of it T. E. Lawrence became my favorite author. And after all of these years he still is. It's not a frivolous book; the writing does demand your attention and effort. The book is full of adventure, humor, history, analysis, and biographical insight of Lawrence and the Arabs and their life. And as other reviewers have noted, much of this book helps people understand the Arabic situation today.

No writer has ever provided a better psychological analysis or been more clear and honest about his strengths and weaknesses than T.E. Lawrence himself. Read what he wrote before you read what others have written.

A number of good reviews of this book have already been written here so I won't repeat their commentary. Just let me say that to really understand this book, it does help to have a useful background about TEL and his life. "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" represents only a couple of the early years in his adult life, yet those years strongly impact the rest of his life in many ways(approximately another 15 years). And, conversely, it's also true that the life he led after his Arabian adventure influenced the way he told the story of his experiences. The quickest way for readers to acquire this necessary background is to visit "TELawrence.net," a web site dedicated to placing all of T. E. Lawrence's writings online. The full text and publishing history of "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" and his other books, translations, and writings are there, as are approximately 700 of his letters, with many more to be added. It brings together in a searchable website all of T.E. Lawrence's published works and letters that went out of British copyright on 1 January 2006. In addition, UK copyright still covers writings by Lawrence that were first published after January 1, 1956. While the text of these writings cannot be posted, this site will tell you what they are, where to find them, and will identify them; each cite will include page references in the chronological and alphabetical contents lists.

Rightfully regarded as a modern classic, this book is nevertheless not light reading. This is a result of the density of information, as well as Lawrence's writing style, which often makes a re-reading of passages necessary to fully grasp them, besides his use of some unusual vocabulary. But by the time one has completed the journey to Damascus with Lawrence and his Arabs, one has almost got a taste for his own peculiar style, even if one cannot always agree with his views, which however, were pretty progressive for a man who grow up at the height of imperialism.

There are, however, many contradictions in the man. At the start of the book, for example, he sympathizes with the unwilling Turkish conscipts, illiterate Anatolian peasants who really wished to be back home, led by a militaristic officer caste fresh from the Armenian genocide. Later in the book though, little sympathy is shown, and on one occasion when Lawrence was angered by the Turks, he did nothing to stop their massacre on their defeat, and left all their wounded where they fell - every one of hundreds froze to death in the cold winter night...

But when one considers that he lost both brothers in 1915 in France, his father in 1919 of the Spanish influenza, and his closest friend, and probably boyfriend, Salim Ahmed, shortly before his entry into Damascus, one can be more forgiving of his attitude. And who can forget his botched execution of Hamed, who'd killed another man? To avoid a blood feud, Lawrence suggested that he execute the man, which was insisted on by the Arabs. 3 shots with his pistol, one of which hit the man on his wrist. No wonder he said he couldn't sleep that night. Or his having to shoot long-time compatriot Farrah in the head as he was too seriously injured to move, and wanted to avoid the inevitable torturing to death of Arab prisoners. Enver Pasha, the Turkish commander, had thrown so many men live into his furnace that he knew just how long it took before you heard the sound of their heads popping. Considering this background of brutality, Lawrence comes across as positively humane.

The book has it's lighter moments though. Who can forget the tribe of the Ageyl, who were so poor they used to go into battle stripped to their loin cloths, both in the belief that it reduced their chances of infection if they were hit, as well as to protect their clothing from bullet holes or blood stains...the young Arabs urinating on others' wounds as the only antiseptic treatment in the desert...the Howeitat treatment of snake-bites - bind up the part with snake-skin plaster, and read chapters of the Koran to the sufferer until he died. Life was hard, and luxuries were few, something which seemed to attract Lawrence even more towards his mission of reaching Damascus and driving out the Turks, even if his conscience continued to bother him that the British Govt's promises to the Arabs were unlikely to be fulfilled.

Finally, Lawrence claimed he left the original manuscript on the train, and had to rewrite the entire book from memory, an amazing feat considering the wealth of detail here. Actually, it would be a superhuman task, and Robert Graves, one of his best friends, believes the story was a lie. The implication is that Lawrence made out that he'd had to rewrite the book by recalling his memories as a cover for the fact that parts of the book are invented, and many facts changed, and that this would be the perfect excuse should his information later be found to be inaccurate. But why claim to have blown up over 70 bridges when the real number was around 20 or so?

The answer is that this is a work of literature, and not a military textbook. We'll never be really sure of which parts are exactly true, and which merely invented as representing what typically happened. It's not always light reading, so set some time aside for this one, but when you get to the end, you'll be glad of having made the effort.

In his book 'The Seven Pillars of Wisdom', T.E. Lawrence describes his role in the joint British-Arab effort to extirpate the Turks from Arab lands in World War I. His decision to subtitle the book 'A Triumph' is ironic, given that throughout the book he makes repeated reference to his role in the ultimate betrayal of the Arab cause at Versailles in 1919. Thankfully, this does not detract from the story itself which is by turns funny, sad, gruesome and inspiring.

Portions of this book appear to drag on interminably, especially the march to Akaba. Also, Lawrence displays a weakness for philosophizing and self-criticism which at times threatens to destroy ones interest in the story. This is, however, balanced off by (1) his unique and exciting perspectives on the strategy and tactics of desert raiding, circa 1918, and (2) by the final 200 pages describing the Allies' ultimate defeat of the Turks in August-September 1918, which is riveting.

Whether The Seven Pillars of Wisdom can be studied with profit in our time is a difficult question to answer. It is tempting to think that the innumerable little lessons concerning guerrilla warfare in Arabia will be of enduring value to some people today. In particular, Lawrence's descriptions of the complex inter-relationships between military and political strategy at the tribal level are relevatory. Even those who care little about the war itself should find much to recommend this book, including a useful geographic and socio-political sketch of Arab history, repeated and lengthy accounts of various locals in the Arabian peninsula, descriptions of Arab tribal customs and relations of this period and, finally, insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the nomadic, Bedouin mind. Ultimately, it is this information may prove most interesting and valuable in the years ahead, especially to those seeking peace and security in Arabia and beyond.

I recommend buying a map and locating the seven cities that are the seven pillars of wisdom before riding your camel through this highly rewarding terrain. T.E. Lawrence can write and write well is the magic discovery of this book. I recommend reading a biography first though. An excellent one written by Jeremy Wilson is a good start. Then read this. The biography will give you a good idea of what a complex figure Lawrence is from early days as archeologist and medieval fortification expert to being recruited for WW1 intelligence and usurping his superiors with his vast fields of knowledge, the biography will set the scene to truly enjoy this masterpiece of guerilla warfare. Those who are interested in the clash of cultures will enjoy Lawrence's way with the various Arab personalities which he must befriend and betray in due time. Lawrence's loyalties are none too sure in these perilous times and become all the more tenuous as the war nears its end. Poor Lawrence, his scholarly and energetic and wide minded ideals and impulses which win him friends in the Arab world are qualities which an older and more cynical culture merely uses to its own ends. Great great read. More stars are due.