Synopses & Reviews
When this Pulitzer Prize-winning biography first appeared in 1976, it rescued T. E. Lawrence from the mythologizing that had seemed to be his fate. In it, John Mack humanely and objectively explores the relationship between Lawrence's inner life and his historically significant actions.
Extensive interviews, far-flung correspondence, access to War Office dispatches and unpublished letters provide the basis for Mack's sensitive investigation of the psychiatric dimensions of Lawrence's personality. In addition, Mack examines the pertinent history, politics, and sociology of the time in order to weigh the real forces with which Lawrence contended and which impinged upon him.
Review
"We are not likely to get as thorough and judicious a biography of T. E. Lawrence for some time." New York Times Book Review
Review
"A great book which honors its subject, its form, and its author." Boston Sunday Globe
Review
"Mack's handling of this information is a model of sensitive psychoanalytical expertise." Newsweek
Review
"Takes us closer to the core of Lawrence than any previous biography." Time
Synopsis
1977 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography
About the Author
John Mack, M.D., was Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and Founding Director of the Center for Psychology and Social Change, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Table of Contents
- Preface, 1998
- Introduction
- Part 1: Family Background and Childhood
- 1. Chapmans and Lawrences
- 2. Childhood and Adolescence
- 3. Lawrence and His Family: The Burden of Illegitimacy
- Part 2: Youth
- Introduction
- 4. Literary Influences
- 5. Crusader Castles
- 6. Lawrence at Jesus College, 1907–1910
- 7. The First Trip to the Middle East, 1909
- 8. Lawrence at Carchemish
- 9. The Epic Dream and the Fact of War
- Part 3: The War Years, 1914–1918
- Introduction
- 10. The Background of the Arab Revolt
- 11. Two Years in Cairo, 1914–1916
- 12. The Course of the Arab Revolt
- 13. The Capture of Damascus
- 14. The Achievements of “Aurens”
- 15. The Question of Motivation
- 16. Lawrence the Enabler
- 17. The Conflict of Responsibility
- 18. The Heroic Legend and the Hero
- 19. The Shattering of the Dream
- Part 4: The Political Years, 1918–1922
- Introduction
- 20. Arab Self-determination and Arab Unity
- 21. Leaving Damascus Behind
- 22. At the Paris Peace Conference
- 23. Return to England: London and All Souls
- 24. Lawrence and Churchill: The Political Settlements in the Middle East
- Part 5: The Years in the Ranks, 1922–1935
- 25. The Service Years: An Overview
- 26. Ross: The First RAF Enlistment
- 27. The Years in the Tanks
- 28. Cranwell
- 29. India
- 30. Mount Batten
- 31. “Boats, Boats, Boats”
- 32. Retirement and Death
- Part 6: Further Dimensions
- 33. Intimacy, Sexuality and Penance
- 34. Lawrence Assayed
- Appendix: Twenty-Seven Articles
- Chapter Notes
- Bibliography
- Copyright Acknowledgments
- Index