T.S. Lawrence - Revolt in the Desert - Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2005
ISBN-10: 0766143473
ISBN-13: 978-0766143470
T.E. Lawrence, also known as Lawrence of Arabia, joined the British Army in 1914 and, with his extensive knowledge of the Ottoman Empire, was soon back in the Middle East and fighting with the Arabs against the Turks. Between 1916 and 1918, he fought many actions against the Turks and was eventually promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel after the successful occupation of Damascus, in Syria.
After the war, he wrote “Seven Pillars of Wisdom”, part based on archaeological research before the war and part-based on his activities against the Turks.
“Revolt in the Desert” originally written in 1919, followed in 1926, as an abridged and shortened version of “The Seven Pillars of Whisdom”, one-half the size of the original, mainly focusing on the story of the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Emperor in 1916-1918. The book was printed for the author and his friends, not for general publication. Lawrence stated that if he was asked why he had abridged an unsatisfactory book instead of recasting it as a history, he would plead that to do so nice a job in the RAF barracks which were his home since 1922 would need a degree of concentration amounting in an airman to moroseness; and an interest in the subject which was exhausted long ago in the actual experience of it.
Intersting book, well written.