One is always chary of biographies by psychiatrists, though the psychiatrist be a Harvard Medical School professor (as the late Dr. Mack was) and the biography be Pulitzer Prize-winning, as this book is. There lurks the constant fear of psychiatric over-analysis. Thankfully, Mack assures us on this score in the Introduction, and we never have to look back: "I believe that Lawrence's reputation has been damaged by the use (or misuse) of psychology to devalue his accomplishments, and by misguided efforts to explain complex decisions and behavior through simplistic explanations and psychological reductionism." Quite so. And Mack is having none of it. So, the reader can set his/her mind at ease on this account. The amount of personal research Mack does here is mind-boggling, and the fact that all of the contemporaries of Lawrence whom Mack interviewed for this biography are now deceased means that this work will always remain a benchmark for those seeking to understand this tormented, enigmatic figure.
But there is a larger worry. Exactly how much can we know about another person? How much do we need to know, for instance, about the relatively short period of Lawrence's life and participation/leadership during the Arab revolt than what Lawrence avers beautifully in the 1922 Oxford edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, echoing the book of Ecclesiastes: "Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their own dream with open eyes, and make it possible. This I did."?
I suppose it depends upon how enthralled you are with Lawrence's life and his endeavours, as related by Mack. So, it's all rather subjective, as I think Mack, and certainly Lawrence, would agree. So, here are my impressions: Lawrence, as an associate said of him, was "a modern Percival" who steeped himself in Provencal poetry, did major archaeological work before the war at the sites of the Crusades, carried out guerilla raids during the "Arab Revolt" and then withdrew from the modern world, all in keeping with a deeply engrained notion of chastity, service and self-abnegation. As Mack thoroughly shows here, one simply can't separate - as most try to do - the Lawrence of Arabia who was a figure on the world stage, and the one who changed his name several times, joined the RAF as a ranker, drove his motorcycles at top speeds without a helmet, became an expert speed-boat mechanic and paid a burly Scotsman to flagellate him brutally on several occasions. They're all of a piece. Aside from his motorcycle, he disdained material possessions, and gave whatever money he might have had to fellow airmen in need, and touched nearly all who knew him with his unworldly generosity - except, and this is important, some of the officers under whom he served as a ranker. In short, he WAS a sort of modern Percival, with an oddly medieval mindset, and his actions, such as they were, were quite in keeping with that mindset.
Cue back to why I think it important that the officers didn't like him. I think this is key to understanding why such an anachronistic figure remains a hero to many in the 21st Century. In "acting out his dream with open eyes," Lawrence ignored, snubbed or found ways around those who were placed over him in the chain of command. And, put it down to what you will, he got away with it. That's why the modern world remains fascinated by him. This modern Percival actually had a meeting with King George V in which he turned down a knighthood. Only his own personal Holy Grail would do. And the baubles offered by a modern king were just that. In short, though Lawrence was, au fond, backwards looking, he became, and remains for many, that very modern invention, the anti-hero, "a prince of our disorder" as historian Irving Howe put it.
It's a credit to Mack that he leaves the "question" of Lawrence unresolved or, rather, leaves the reader to make of this extremely readable book about an extremely remarkable man what he/she will. Ultimately, the question of personal identity remains an elusive mystery.
Shortly before his fatal motorcycle crash, a ship contractor told him that "you'll break your blinking neck on that thing." This modern Percival replied, "Well, better than dying in bed", mounted his modern steed and roared off. His brief will left two copies of Shelley's poetry, one for his younger brother, one for his solicitor.
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Top reviews from other countries
Josephine May
narrated for us by a talented author who has done his very best to paint "The Real Picture" of this extraordinary man
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2016
Paul Lindstrom
A "must have" book if you are interested in T.E.
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The book arrived in fairly good conditions
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 3, 2014
