--- product_id: 1311308 title: "Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East" brand: "scott anderson" price: "138.48 DT" currency: TND in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1311308-lawrence-in-arabia-war-deceit-imperial-folly-and-the-making store_origin: TN region: Tunisia --- # Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East **Brand:** scott anderson **Price:** 138.48 DT **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by scott anderson - **How much does it cost?** 138.48 DT with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.tn](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1311308-lawrence-in-arabia-war-deceit-imperial-folly-and-the-making) ## Best For - scott anderson enthusiasts ## Why This Product - Trusted scott anderson brand quality - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A New York Times Notable Book • Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography • From the author of King of Kings comes a thrilling and revelatory narrative of one of the most epic and consequential periods in 20th century history – the Arab Revolt and the secret “great game” to control the Middle East, including the infamous Sykes-Picot Agreement, that set the stage for decades of conflict. “A fascinating book, the best work of military history in recent memory and an illuminating analysis of issues that still loom large today."— The New York Times "Brilliant. . . . A dazzling accomplishment that combines superb historical research with a compelling narrative.” —The Seattle Times The Arab Revolt against the Turks in World War I was, in the words of T. E. Lawrence, “a sideshow of a sideshow.” As a result, the conflict was shaped to a remarkable degree by a small handful of adventurers and low-level officers far removed from the corridors of power. At the center of it all was Lawrence himself. In early 1914 he was an archaeologist excavating ruins in Syria; by 1917 he was riding into legend at the head of an Arab army as he fought a rearguard action against his own government and its imperial ambitions. Based on four years of intensive primary document research, Lawrence in Arabia definitively overturns received wisdom on how the modern Middle East was formed. One of the Best Books of the Year: NPR, The Christian Science Monitor, The Seattle Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Chicago Tribune ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Asin | 0307476413 | | Dimensions | 6.15 x 1.36 x 9.18 inches | | Edition | Reprint | | Isbn 10 | 9780307476418 | | Isbn 13 | 978-0307476418 | | Item Weight | 1.75 pounds | | Language | English | | Print Length | 624 pages | | Publication Date | June 3, 2014 | | Publisher | Vintage | ## Images ![Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81sFYUmEP4L.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Tremendously good read with a few flaws *by on Reviewed in the United States August 29, 2013* I have been stung by T. E. Lawrence's legend, myth and enigma ever since my Father bundled myself, Brother and Mother together explaining that he had just seen the newly opened film Lawrence of Arabia while on a business trip. That very next weekend we went down to Hollywood to see the three plus hour movie (I was bored to tears). Being surprised and seeing my Father's enthusiasm I began to read more about Lawrence and World War One and the Arab Revolt. I saw the film several more times over that year and began what has been a lifelong hobby as I have collected books, articles and research on LAWRENCE. So anytime there is a new Lawrence biography I am pleased in the expectation that others too will discover this unique, flawed and mysterious man.This month we have the release of Scott Anderson's new book LAWRENCE IN ARABIA which for some reason felt it important to replace the word OF with the word IN. And although I have some concerns with some of Anderson's characterizations and his depiction of Lawrence especially in his post war life I think the book is a tremendously good read that takes on a much broader scope than just being a Lawrence biography.Anderson gives us a broader picture of how the Arab Revolt and Lawrence's roll tied into other World War I campaigns. There is a good section on how Lawrence and others proposed early in the war that the British attack the Ottoman Empire (who controlled the Middle East) at Alexandretta (near Aleppo which is much in the news today). But instead Winston Chruchill and the British war planners attacked Gallipoli resulting and a lost opportunity and a crushing defeat. If Alexandretta had been captured and the Ottoman Empire split in two there may have been no need for an Arab revolt.The book tries to be a biography of Lawrence asking how did Lawrence do it (answer no one was looking) and three others: Curt Prufer a German spy who tries to get Arabs to attack the Suez Canal, Aaron Aaronsohn the Jewish Zionist who along with his sister set up pro-British spy ring in Palestine, and William Yale who working for Standard Oil traveled the Middle East. The problem with these three other individuals with the possible exception of Aaronsohn is that they are at best interesting footnotes except that they do help expand the readers understanding of people and events beyond the scope of the Lawrence story. And although I liked Anderson's structure I thought the Aaronsohn story was better told in Ronald Florence's 2007 book LAWRENCE AND AARONSOHN, T.E. Lawrence, Aaron Aaronshon, and the Seeds of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Anderson quotes Florence in several of the Aaronshon sections). As to Prufer and Yale I don't recall ever hearing about them before this book.Anderson's book justifiably spends a lot of time discussing the Sykes/Picot treaty between Britain and France and the person of Mark Sykes who was a major political player and is a major character in the book. Much more so than even Aaronshon. His personal and political story really is what the book's subtitle is about.... Deceit... Imperial Folly... and the making of the modern Middle East. Add Sykes/Picot with the Balfour Declaration and you have the unbelievable colonialism arrogance that Lawrence opposed in his support of an independent Arab nation. What the Arab's hoped to gain by their revolt.This brings me to a point in Anderson's book that really disturbed me when I read it. The fact that Anderson calls Lawrence out as a TRAITOR. This on pages 270-271, "....in any wartime army at any point in history - The divulging of a secret treaty to a third party was considered a consummate act of treason, one sure to win the offender a long prison sentence if not an appointment with a firing squad. Yet a some point during those early days of February in Wejh, Lawrence took Faisal aside and did precisely that, revealing to him both the existence and salient details of Sykes-Picot." No one doubts that Lawrence at this time knew of the treaty but I am hard pressed to see any evidence that Lawrence was a traitor. There are many other numerous explanations about how and when Faisal first found out about the treaty. If Lawrence was in fact a traitor I would have thought the French at the very least would have pressed the point with their British allies. I don't believe any other biographer has made a point of this issue. Anderson then even ends his book in the Epilogue by saying, "Everything T.E. Lawrence had fought for, schemed for, arguably betrayed his country for, turned to ashes....." This is a heavy handed indictment. The interesting thing about Lawrence is that many things about him are elusive and will always remain a matter of conjecture. But I for one feel Anderson has gone over the top on this claim. (Much the way prior biographers have made the point that Lawrence was a homosexual. No one will really know for sure but then does it matter.)Lastly, I take exception to Anderson's brief depiction of Lawrence in the Epilogue diagnosing Lawrence as having had Post-traumatic stress disorder. Anderson further says, " ...it is hard to escape the image of a sad and reclusive man, his circle of friends and acquaintances steadily dwindling to a mere handful...".No doubt Lawrence had a unique and difficult personality to understand. How many Britain's would turn away from being knighted by their King during the actual ceremony? None before Lawrence. John Mack in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, THE PRINCE OF OUR DISORDER: The Life of T.E. Lawrence (1976) devoted a whole book to doing a psychological study of Lawrence (One of the best books on Lawrence). In Michael Korda's recent book, HERO: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia (2010) Korda paints a more convincing picture than PTSD where Lawrence having sought fame, having become a celebrity as big as say Diana today, found he did not like living with fame. Rather than leverage his fame like most people would be expected to do Lawrence hid from it. I always thought the fact that he grew up keeping the secret that he was illegitimate in class contentious Britain that he was a pretender. The work Lawrence did after the war was never going to be heroic...the stuff of headlines.... But he was an intellectual who wrote two books and translated others. The letters he wrote were long and interesting and send to a wide circle of acquaintances yielding who collections of text. Yes, Lawrence was not like the rest of us... and that is why his legend, myth and enigma endure.In Anderson's Acknowledgments at the end of his book Anderson gives high recognition to Jeremy Wilson whose authorized biography, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1990) and says, "While I respectfully disagree with Mr. Wilson on several aspects of Lawrence's actions in Arabia. I am deeply indebted to the astounding amount of scholarly research he has done on Lawrence......" If you're a fan of all things Lawrence you no doubt know that Jeremy Wilson and his wife Nichole own Castle Hill Press. They have been publishing fine collector quality books by Lawrence for some twenty years. I own several of these the two most recent being THE MINT and BOATS FOR THE RAF 1929 - 1935. I recommend the Wilson's work to you as well as Wilson's T.E. Lawrence Studies page on internet. (Here he also does a good power point presentation covering the historical accuracy of the movie.)For those who like and collect things Lawrence I want to also mention a book I found very well published and presented. It is in part what one might term a small coffee table book. It is Joseph Berton's T.E. LAWRENCE AND THE ARAB REVOLT (2011.Lawrence is now but a drifting bit of sand blowing across the landscape of a land and people he loved that today is fractured by human intolerance. He became the medieval knight he dreamed of becoming. And I think that is what drew my Father to Lawrence. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent, with a caveat here and there *by on Reviewed in the United States September 21, 2013* An excellent history that helps illuminate an enigmatic figure, it veers off the rails at a few points; to name but two: a tirade against the mindlessness of the British High Command during the war (we get it after the first paragraph) and another on the jingoism of the time and how biased it was to assume that the Arabs in the Middle East weren't capable of ruling themselves in a just, democratic fashion, as effectively as Westerners. Had the author written the last analysis in, say, 1920, he might be forgiven this magnanimous, politically-correct presumption, but he's lived the century since, well through the icy Arab 'spring' to understand differently of these make-believe states. The political culture of the Levant and Magreb that still resonate with frightful events draws on a long set of experiences that preceded the brief Eurpoean foray into the Near East by many centuries. This is what many modern historians fail to consider and where the author, Scott Anderson fails as well. The 'betrayal' of Arab nationalism that others below speak of and the author alludes to, was a movement as much an invention of Europeans and the byproduct of romantics such as Lawrence, as modern Greek nationalism was of Byron & Co. (not to diminish the suffering of these subject peoples in the slightest). In the case of the Muslim subjects of the Sultan, there wasn't as such suppressed national identity (that in many cases had not yet formed) as submission to the recognized Caliph, Defender of the Faithful; for Muslims it was at its core, a truly pan-national polity. Lawrence embodies, as did Byron, the same jingoism of the times as they saw themselves the necessary 'prophets' of revolution (in Lawrence's own words) that the objects of their affections seemed 'incapable' of producing themselves.The author does reveal more about Lawrence, delving into his true nature more than most other works but I'm left no closer understanding the man's seemingly contradictory nature. Lawrence condemns the most horrific aspects of war and when given an opportunity, sadistically indulges in the same bestiality. Appalled by the lies around him, he then concocts his own deceits when sending dispatches about his Arab allies. He manipulates many around him but is often described as aloof and socially withdrawn; combined with indisputably extraordinary academic talents, there are hints perhaps, in contemporary understanding, of the Aspberger's end of autistic spectrum disorder. It only adds to the strange psycho-sexual jumble; there is a distinct self-loathing manifested in the context of a not-so-hidden but mostly unrequited homosexual sexual predilection and a masochistic pursuit of humiliation and pain. Eschewing all honors Britain wishes to bestow, he spends the final 15 years of his life as an anonymous enlisted man serving in a military he clearly loathes, working for an Imperial system he so deftly worked to undermine. But as clever as he was in his arena, those authorities around him were more so (despite the author's attempt to paint them irredeemably inept at all times). They used whatever he achieved to their ends, and left him bereft of any lasting achievements.The other fascinating characters who influence events fare no better in the end, meeting their ends by accidental death (Aronsohn), assassination (The hapless Djemal Pasha), or after pursuit of new illusions and dissipation (Prüfer).The Hashemites, unable to rally a constituency in Arabia beyond tiny Hejaz and Nejd, soon fall to competing ibn Sauds. The author attributes this outcome, at least in part, to a vague rapprochement with the Zionists; it is a stretch here too, as the ibn Saud clan had been allied with the violently fundamentalist Wahabbis for better than a century and while on the payroll of British India, finally wrest control of Mecca and Medina. In an odd turn, the British Raj thus engineers a platform for Islamism centered on the Islamic holy cities, precisely as hoped for by the Imperial German agents in this book, Prüfer and von Oppenheim.Of note, the most unlikely victor in all of this are the Zionists, who without an army or a geographical base, create something lasting. It has become fashionable to bash Zionists (in the same way old time anti-Jewish sentiments were manifest) but the first decades of the 20th century saw a profound reshuffling of populations, away from polyglot empires and into religiously uniform, 'cleansed' ethnic polities. In a move toward 'nationalism' fostered by the West, Turkey and Greece became prime examples, trading (or in the case of the former, massacring) populations to achieve this. The Arab states of the Middle East were no exception, where Jewish habitation dating to pre-Islamic & classical times are now extinct and intentionally forgotten while Christians are in the process of experiencing the same fate. Yet Israel, home to most of these exiled eastern Jews, is the obsession of malign historical revisionists, who excoriate it as the only 'authentically artificial' creation of the era. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great history *by on Reviewed in the United States January 6, 2014* A very good book.I was interested in Lawrence and in imperial folly, but not so interested in Middle East and WWI history. However, this well-written book kept me fascinated and informed on all four topics.I was continually amused by Lawrence. And continually horrified at the idiotic, arrogant and inhuman actions of the "great empires" during this time. I often burst out laughing during the relentless lists of official absurdities.There are so many great quotes. Here's one almost at random:"In just four months in the war theater, [Lawrence] had watched as Britain's best hope for an early victory over the Turks [an assault on Alexandretta, Syria] was shelved for no better reason than politics and institutional inertia; in its place the 'great thinkers' had come up with Gallipoli. From what the Oxford scholar had seen, military culture was a world of hidebound careerists looking for knighthood or their next medal, and of underlings loath to question the powerful, with countless dying as a result."...Every day he saw raw battlefield reports... and these told a tale of staggering incompetence and callousness: of soldiers ordered to stay in formation as they advanced over open ground toward enemy machine-gun nests,.... Other junior-ranked men had access to this information too... but most of these were aspirants to the system, willing cogs in the vast, dumb meat-grinding machinery that none dared acknowledge as such." [The book says nearly a quarter million British troops died uselessly at Gallipoli.]Another gem:"... The French military ligation in Cairo had been temporarily recalled to France and, in long-standing military tradition among the European powers, the occasion was marked by the liberal disbursement of medals and honorifics. Quite inexplicably, considering his consistent efforts to thwart French ambitions in the region, the outgoing legation had selected Lawrence for the Légion d'Honneur, one of France's highest awards. Compounding their error, the following year they awarded him the Croix de Guerre avec palme.... with his profound disdain for such things, Lawrence either threw them away or never bothered to collect them. He made an exception in the case of the Croix de Guerre; after the war ... he found amusement in placing the medal around the neck of a friend's dog and parading it through the streets of Oxford." ## Frequently Bought Together - Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East - Peace to End All Peace, 20th Anniversary Edition --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1311308-lawrence-in-arabia-war-deceit-imperial-folly-and-the-making](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1311308-lawrence-in-arabia-war-deceit-imperial-folly-and-the-making) --- *Product available on Desertcart Tunisia* *Store origin: TN* *Last updated: 2026-08-19*