Author Description

The Essential T.E. Lawrence is really two books in one. Not only does it provide a judicious and wide-ranging selection of his best writings, it also offers readers the fascinating life story of the man known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia. With selections chosen by David Garnett, and an introduction by the renowned Lawrence scholar Malcolm Brown, this book represents every aspect of Lawrence's work, containing material not available anywhere else. It begins with the eloquent letters the young aventurer from Oxford University wrote as he traveled from Britain to France and then to the Middle East, and ends with the final telegram thirty years later just before his ill-fated motorcycle ride from Bovington Camp to Clouds Hill. In between we meet Lawrence the archeologist, intelligence officer, soldier-in-the-field, polemicist, and diplomat; it is an unforgettable portrait of one of the premier adventurers of the twentieth century. Reading The Essential T.E. Lawrence we experience again the dramatic twists--the incredible highs and the equally profound lows--of his remarkable career.