Reporters have been known, now and then, to play fast and loose with the facts to entertain their readers or elevate themselves. This phenomenon is not limited to our own age. For proof, look no further than Lowell Thomas' fanciful volume, With Lawrence in Arabia. In 1917, Thomas was a 25-year-old part-time instructor at Princeton, a "fledgling showman from Ohio who had knocked about North America in search of fame, fortune and adventure," according to historian David Fromkin (A Peace to End All Peace). Thomas then raised enough money to travel to Britain and the Middle East front as a World War I cameraman. With his coverage began the Lawrence of Arabia myth.

Eight copies of Seven Pillars of Wisdom were published by Oxford in 1922 (six still exist). The first limited edition was followed in 1926 with the private publication of 211 copies of the book. In 1935 another limited run was published. But the same year, Seven Pillars was reprinted at least four more times. Now, there have probably been dozens, if not hundreds of printings.

This work assured T. E. Lawrence a place in history as 'Lawrence of Arabia'. It is a military history, colorful epic and lyrical exploration of Lawrence's mind.

Nevertheless, it is largely fiction. Fromkin writes that when poet and scholar Robert Graves proposed to describe the liberation of Damascus in a biography of Lawrence, the subject himself warned Graves, "I was on thin ice when I wrote the Damascus chapter...."

A onetime junior officer in the Cairo Arab Bureau, Lawrence admitted that Seven Pillars of Wisdom included a false tale of Arab bravery to aggrandize the followers of Sharif Hussein of Mecca and his son Feisal. Indeed, as early as 1918, reputable newsmen reported that the Australian Light Horse division liberated Damascus from Ottoman control, not Feisal's Arab troops, who marched in afterwards, for show.

By 1921, Fromkin writes, Winston Churchill was in charge of Britain's Arab policy in Mesopotamia and tapped John Evelyn Shuckburgh to head a new Middle East department and Foreign Office man Hubert Winthrop Young to assist him. They arranged transport and supplies for Feisal's Arab army, earning hearty endorsement from Churchill's Masterson Smith committee, which simultaneously took grave exception to T.E. Lawrence as a proposed Arab affairs adviser. The committee considered Lawrence "not the kind of man fit to easily fit into any official machine."

Fromkin reports that Lawrence was frequently insubordinate, went over his superiors and in 1920 publicly disparaged Britain's Arab policy in the London Sunday Times as being "worse than the Turkish system." He also accused Britain of killing "a yearly average of 100 Arabs to maintain peace." This was of course untrue.

Efraim and Inari Karsh write, in Empires of the Sand, that Lawrence's Damascus victory was "less heroic" than he pretended. Feisal was "engaged in an unabashed exercise in duplicity and none knew this better than Lawrence, who whole heartedly endorsed this illicit adventure and kept most of its contours hidden from his own superiors." Yet Lawrence basked in the limelight Thomas created in London, attending at least five of the showman journalist's lectures.

As an unfortunate result of Lawrence's subterfuge, he had a large hand in shaping the modern Middle East.

Bad enough, we suffer to this day the consequences of Lawrence's fabrications.

Worse, a new generation of readers seems to accept as gospel the Lawrence of Arabia myth that stemmed from Lowell Thomas' hype and Lawrence's own Seven Pillars of Wisdom. While few seem to know it, this was long ago debunked. Those who want to know what really happened should at minimum also consult Fromkin's A Peace to End All Peace and the Karsh's Empires of the Sand.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

This book stands alone in the history of military memoirs. The book as a literary achievement and the subject of the book as a personal achievement are both unparalleled. What Lawrence did in WWI - unite the Arab tribes in a common fight against the Turks - was remarkable not only because no one thought it could be done but also because it was done by a man with no power or influence beyond what he could inspire by his own presense. Lawrence, a scholar before the war working as a mapmaker for the British army, was about as far removed from anyone's ideas of a military hero as could be. He nevertheless did the impossible and that story, no matter who tells it, is as fascinating as any that ever came out of warfare.

Equally fascinating is the book itself. A blend of truth and evasion, the book is told in a beautiful lazy style that suggests it had been thought out with the vast Arabian desert and ancient way of life in mind. It is helpful to have read another account of Lawrence's life, just to be sure of what is happening when he chooses to be vague, but the beauty of the writing and the insight of the keen intelligence from which it springs, is a great delight to experience.

Even more amazing is to realize that after this monumental book was completed, Lawrence left the complete manuscript - the only copy - on the London subway and had to recreate it from scratch using just his notes. This is a remarkable testiment to both his focus when he needed it, and his tendency to be frequently apart from the real world. A remarkable man. A remarkable book. Unique and worthy to be read and enjoyed.

El libro pinta de cuerpo y alma a uno de los personajes más destacados del siglo. Describe con simpleza acciones militares llevadas a cabo con mínima logística en un teatro de operaciones extremadamente difícil. Sus enseñanzas fueron utilizadas en la IIGM (1939/1940) por las tropas británicas en el norte de Africa y por los "viets" de Ho Chi Minh en Indochina.

As a person with a graduate degree in 20th. century history and having read countless books on the subject this book gave an uncomparable insight into the perceptions of the people who lived through these horrors. Apart from that most of the writing is of great quality and highly enjoyable as far as this dark side of human society can be. I recommend this book for everyone who has any interest in history and the wars that shaped the 20th century.

I don't think I'd be giving away much of the plot if I were to say that the story revolves around Pip, a young, middle class orphan who has dreams to be a wealthy, respected gentleman, but has no hope of this as he is a rural blacksmith apprentice. His prospecs change, however, when a mysterious, anonymous benefactor offers to make Pip's dream a reality. I won't give away the ending, but the novel supports Dickens' belief that the middle class is the class to which people should aspire.

The plot of this story wasn't to my liking. Dickens' attempts towards the end to wrap all the subplots into one neat little package annoyed me...similar to plot twists in modern Hollywood movies--things so outrageously convienent that it makes one want to roll his eyes. The manner in which things are written, however is fantastic. While the main characters are rather boring, the minor characters, (especially Biddy, Herbert Pocket, and John Wemmick) were much more interesting. Thankfully, Dickens focused on them enough to flesh them out and make them memorable. I would recommend this book, not because I enjoy the plot, but because the writing style is superior and because I, being lower middle class, enjoyed the positive viewpoint Dickens extended concerning my class.

Almost every negative review about this book was made by a 15 year old 9th grader. I also had to read this book when I was in ninth grade and I had no clue what was going on. Those kids might not want to admit it, but it was above thier understanding, I am proof of that. I decided to read this again and even though I was indifferant to it the first time I read, and realized it to be the literary genuis that it truely is. It has an amusing story line of the events that surround a young boy's life and how he copes with his coming into fortunes and life in general. But Dicken's masterful writing makes more than just a story line, it is also a social critique of Industeralized Society. For existance, Joe represents how life was before the Industerial Revolution. He was kind, hard working, morally upstanding, and happy, amoung other desirable qualities. Whereas Estella, for example, represented how it was during the Industerial Revolution. She was greedy, self-centered, controlling, and unhappy. This is also evident in Pip. At first he had the traits of the former, but once he got his "Expecations", he exhibited the traits of the latter. Another part of his critique was the differance between the rich and the poor. There are other important ways in which he portrays them, but for lack of time the poor people were happy, whereas the rich were unhappy. Dickens is also great at describing setting and characters, so as some might see that as boreing, I see that as giving more depth to the story. He makes it seem like the reader is actually in 19th century London and meeting such interresting characters as Jaggers, Mr. Pocket, and of course honorable Joe. Anyone concidering buying this that is in high school, I reccomend not buying this because you will not undersand it, hence dislike it. But anyone who is already out of high school, or someone who read it in high school I would reccomend this book. Dickens is well know in literary circles for his genuis, but for some reason I cannot explain, in popular culture he does not come close to the popularity of Shakesphere, even though he was writer and Social Critic.

As a student, I had to read this book as a requirement for my junior year summer reading. Being the largest book of them all, I reluctantly started on this one. However, after giving it the twenty-five page test, I found the book terribly addictive. Had I had a more generous time budget, I would have finished the book in two to three days. As it was, it took me over a month. The storyline, with Pip intertwined in a weird emotional triangle with one Miss Havisham and Estella, has the reader wondering "Who is on Pip's side?" and "What the heck is going on with this Estella babe?" The emotions Pip felt, the things he went through, and just the thought of actually having to go through what he did brings tears to the eyes (even mine, which had been dry for years). By reading this book, I even became more in-tune to my emotions. This novel is an excellent piece of literature for any language buff (Dickens is a sheer master of the English language), and for anyone who loves a good tearjerker. Happy reading!!