Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly, and the Making of the Modern Middle East - Scott Anderson

Written by Scott Anderson
Read by Malcolm Hillgartner
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Awards:Best Audio Books
National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
Notable Books for Adults
Release date: August 6, 2013
Duration: 23:45:32

A thrilling and revelatory narrative of one of the most epic and consequential periods in twentieth century history—the Arab Revolt and the secret game to control the Middle East

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. Curt Prüfer was an academic attached to the German embassy in Cairo whose clandestine role was to foment jihad against British rule. Aaron Aaronsohn was a renowned agronomist and committed Zionist who gained the trust of the Ottoman governor of Palestine even as he built an elaborate anti-Ottoman spy ring. William Yale was a fallen scion of the American aristocracy who traveled the Ottoman Empire on behalf of Standard Oil, dissembling to the Turks in order to gain valuable oil concessions. At the center of it all was Lawrence. In early 1914 he was an archaeologist digging 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. Sweeping in its action, keen in its portraiture, acid in its condemnation of the destruction wrought by European colonial plots, this is a book that brilliantly captures the way in which the folly of the past creates the anguish of the present.

“Similar in style and quality to Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City, this work tells as well the stories of three other spies: a Palestinian Zionist, a German agitator, and an American oil company employee. Their tales weave in and out of Lawrence’s narrative and are also used to show what was happening in other areas of the Ottoman Front of the war. Anderson takes a grounded middle view of Lawrence, staying away from the more sensational theories others have presented, making sure to differentiate between what is known and what is merely supposed. Lawrence’s tale includes extensive political and military conflict related clearly and excitingly and illustrates how a “sideshow of a sideshow” has so affected the politics of the Middle East and, through it, the world. Malcom Hilgartner’s clear reading allows the well-paced writing to deliver an engrossing experience. VERDICT Highly recommended for public libraries and readers who like war history or popular history. [”With strong and insightful writing, using T.E. Lawrence as a window onto the tragic history of World War I and its settlement in the Middle East, Anderson makes this complicated history both vivid and engaging,”…
2013 Library Journal