LAWRENCE OF ARABIA: MIRAGE OF A DESERT WAR

T. E. Lawrence is one of the most enigmatic characters in British history. At the outbreak of the First World War he was a 26-year-old archaeologist working in the Middle East when he was sent as a junior intelligence officer to Cairo. He had no military training, and a strong distrust of politicians and senior officers alike. Yet he succeeded in a task where all these people had failed: not only did he unite the Arab nation - a nation at perpetual war with itself - but he also led them to a stunning victory against the occupying Turkish army. How he managed to achieve these incredible feats has fascinated and confounded historians ever since. The myths that have grown up around this remarkable man have been enhanced by the untruths Lawrence himself propagated. The truth is every bit as compelling as the fiction. He was far more ruthless than he portrayed himself, and the battles he fought were every bit as barbarous as those fought by his Turkish enemies. He was also strangely determined not to take credit for his achievements: when invited to Buckingham Palace to meet the King for a private investiture, possibly including the Victoria Cross and a knighthood, he refused the decorations leaving the embarrassed King holding the box. This biography separates the truth from all the fictions that surround this legendary man. It covers the actualities of the battles that Lawrence fought in greater detail than ever before, and also describes what happened to Lawrence immediately after the war.