Lawrence and the Arabs

Immortalized in the film “Lawrence of Arabia,” the real T.E. Lawrence was a leader, a war strategist, and a scholar, and is here immortalized in an intimate biography written by his close friend, the award-winning British novelist, poet and classicist Robert Graves.

As a student at Oxford, T.E. Lawrence was fascinated with Middle Eastern history and culture, and underwent a four-month visit to Syria to study the fortifications built by the Crusaders. Later, he returned to the region, this time as an archaeologist working with the British Army’s Intelligence unit in Egypt during World War I. From there, in 1916, he joined Arab rebels fighting against Turkish domination. His brilliance as a desert war tactician earned him the respect of the Turkish fighters and worldwide renown.

This is the real story of T.E. Lawrence’s life, told by one of the most influential British writers of the 20th century, and a personal friend.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert Graves (1895-1985) was an English novelist, poet, and translator of Classical Greek and Roman literature, and one of the most prominent English writers of the 20th century. He was an extremely prolific writer, who published more than 140 novels and collections of poetry. In addition to novels and poetry, he published groundbreaking analysis of Greek mythology, as well as memoir. Graves is best known for his historical novels, which include I, Claudius, Claudius, the God, The Golden Fleece, King Jesus, and Count Belisarius.

Robert Graves served in combat in World War I and was gravely wounded at the Battle of the Somme. Following his recovery, he wrote several works of war poetry as well as a memoir of his time in combat, entitled Goodbye to All That. In 1934, Robert Graves was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his historical novels dealing with the Roman Emperor Claudius.