BOOK REVIEW: Lawrence In Arabia by Scott Anderson

BOOK REVIEW: Lawrence In Arabia by Scott Anderson
Atlantic/Allen & Unwin, rrp $35
April 2014
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8/10

We remember T E Lawrence as the striking blue-eyed figure in Arab garb atop a camel made famous by Peter O’Toole in the 1962 movie Lawrence Of Arabia, but Scott Anderson’s new book delves far deeper into his legend and involvement in middle eastern politics than the movie ever did.

Anderson puts Lawrence’s role in the early twentieth century middle eastern shenanigans into greater context by discussing at length not only his early role as a spy, but also the activities of other spies in the region, notably the German Carl Prufer and American oil man and US State Department man William Yale.

Rather than the picture of one Westerner amongst a disorganised rabble of Arabian tribes, this allows us to see that several powers were vying for the rights to call the local tribes their own, and it strikes into the heart when the British betray both them and their own man Lawrence after successfully driving out the Turks.

The detail Anderson goes into is engrossing, but also makes the book a hard road in parts. Lawrence In Arabia is not for the unwary – at over 500 pages it can be tough going at times, but it’s never less than a fascinating insight into not only the man and his contemporise, but also into the successes and mistakes which directly influenced the middle east as we know it today, a hundred years later.

Category: Book Reviews