Read Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia Online
Authors: Michael Korda
Woolf, Leonard, 622
Woolley, Charles Leonard, 211
and Carchemish site, 202, 206–9, 210, 214, 218, 219, 221, 224, 230, 240
and Palestine mapping expedition, 234, 235, 236–38
and World War I, 246, 250, 252, 257
World War I:
Allied Powers in, 10, 242, 252, 304, 305
Battle of the Somme, 45, 277
Battle of Verdun, 275, 277, 460
Central Powers in, 10, 13, 232, 233, 242, 249–50
Dardanelles campaign, 509
events in Europe overshadowing Arabia in, 381–82
events leading to, 13, 204, 242
Gallipoli, 4, 29, 263–64, 277, 282, 285, 290, 295
and Kitchener, 244–46,
245
, 262, 264, 265–66, 274
Lawrence as famed hero of, 492, 493, 536, 686, 687
Lawrence brothers in, 243–44
as military disaster, 663
and postwar peace,
see
Paris Peace Conference
and postwar territorial demands, 453–54, 468–69
and Sarajevo assassination, 242
stalemate in, 398
surrender of Central Powers in, 417, 453
U.S. entry into, 305, 353, 381
World War II, 309, 698
Churchill’s speeches in, 654
French Resistance movement in, 332
Spitfire aircraft in, 643
Yarmuk, Turkish bridges at, 325–28, 330–38, 340, 352, 355, 400, 410, 430
Yeates, V. M., 676
Yeats, William Butler, 73, 119, 654, 657
Yemen, imam of, 516, 527, 528
Yenbo:
Arab control of, 21
defense of, 56, 58–59, 60, 63
journey to, 42–43
strategic importance of, 49
Young, Hubert,
383
, 416–18
and Allenby, 402, 436
and Arab army, 401–2, 416, 424, 425
and chain of command, 382–83, 416
in Churchill’s Middle East Department, 512, 513, 514, 516, 520
and Lawrence’s military actions, 408, 417–18
military traits of, 402
Youth Hostels Association, 673
Zaagi, 420
Zaal (raider), 92, 93–94
Zeid, emir (son of Hussein), 22, 526
and British gold, 292, 375, 376
and Mesopotamia, 444
retreating, 53, 56, 57, 58
at Tafileh, 366, 368, 370–71
Zionism:
and Aaronsohn, 328–29
and Balfour Declaration, 306, 399, 453, 454, 519–20, 531
and Churchill, 510
importance of, 468
and Jewish national home, 511, 520, 531–32
and Jewish settlement in Palestine, 451, 466, 467, 468, 531
Meinertzhagen as supporter of, 470, 512, 520
and Palestine, 280, 306, 328–29, 451, 458, 463, 466–67, 519–20, 524, 531
and Paris Peace Conference, 454, 458, 463, 468
Sykes as supporter of, 272, 280, 352
and Sykes-Picot agreement, 280, 399, 451, 453, 458, 467
and Weizmann-Feisal discussions, 399–400, 463, 465–68, 476
My heartfelt thanks to my dear friends Marianna and Jay Watnick for their affectionate support.
I owe special gratitude to my friend and colleague from her days at Simon and Schuster, Phyllis Grann, whose suggestion it was that I should write about Lawrence in the first place, as well as for her editing of the manuscript; and to Lynn Nesbit for making all this possible. I also owe very special thanks to Hugh Van Dusen at HarperCollins, and to his assistant, Robert Crawford, for their unfailing help and enthusiasm; to Lucy Albanese of HarperCollins for her skill, taste, and patience; and to Diane Aronson for her very special and painstaking care.
I owe a special debt of gratitude to the incomparable Mike Hill, for his research, support, and friendship; to Kevin Kwan,
chocolatier par excellence,
for his brilliant picture research—and to Amy Hill, for once again taking on the task of designing one of my books. I am also deeply indebted to my assistant Dawn Lafferty, whose help has been unstinting, and whose calm in the middle of chaos has been a precious and invaluable gift to me, and to Victoria Wilson for reading the manuscript, and for her excellent and thought-provoking suggestions.
Close to home, I am profoundly grateful to John Ansley, Head of the Archives and Special Collections and of the Lowell Thomas Collection and Archives; and to Angelo Galeazzi, Project Archivist at Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New York, for giving me such valuable access to their films, photographs, and manuscripts, which contain a treasuretrove of material about Lawrence, and for going to such trouble on my behalf.
I would also like to thank the following: Hugh Alexander, Deputy Manager, The Image Library, The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, U.K.; Katherine Godfrey, Archivist at the Liddell Hart Centre for Military History, King’s College, London, U.K.; Colin Harris, Superintendent, Department of Special Collections, Bodleian Library, Oxford, U.K.; Penny Hatfield, Eton College, Windsor, Berkshire, U.K.; Jane Hogan, Assistant Keeper, Archives and Special Collections, Durham University Library, Durham, U.K.; Allen Packwood, Director, Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, U.K.; Lora Parker, Royal Agricultural College Library, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, U.K.; Peter Preen, Visitor Services Manager, Clouds Hill, Wareham, Dorset, U.K.; John and Rosalind Randle, Whittington Press; Gayle M. Richardson, Manuscripts Department, Huntington Library, San Marino, California; Daun van Eee at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Christine Warner, Oak Knoll Press; and John Wells, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives, Cambridge University Library, Cambridge, U.K.
My thanks to Will Bueche for so kindly making available to me many of the late Professor John E. Mack’s notes and papers; and to Barry Singer of Chartwell Books, New York, the most eminent of “Eminent Churchillians,” for so diligently seeking out books by and about T. E. Lawrence from all over the world.
To my dear friend Gypsy da Silva my thanks for being willing to answer questions at any hour of the day or night, and for always knowing the right answer.
And to “I Putti,” my five schoolmates from Le Rosey, for their long-distance support and enthusiasm: Jean-Jacques Boissier; Max Cauvin, whose courage and good humor in adversity are an example to us all; Christian Delsol; Gabriel Villada; and Peter Wodtke,
chic types et chers amis.
Finally, and above all, to my beloved wife, Margaret, for putting up with yet another time-consuming project and for the accompanying tidal wave of books, papers, and files overflowing through the house.
MICHAEL KORDA
is the
New York Times
bestselling author of
Charmed Lives, Ike, Country Matters, Ulysses S. Grant
, and
Journey to a Revolution
. He is Editor in Chief Emeritus of Simon & Schuster, and he lives in Dutchess County, New York.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
“
Hero
is a full-scale, major event, a great biography written with a sweeping understanding of history, military realities, geography, and politics, and filled with a wealth of character studies. The triumph of the book is Michael Korda’s brilliant, always balanced portrait of the infinitely fascinating Lawrence of Arabia, the relevance of which, now in our time, is of greater importance than ever.”
—David McCullough
“T. e. Lawrence is next to impossible to fix on the page. Yet Michael Korda has done so, delivering up a crowded, improbable life in a page-turning biography, every bit as rich as its protean subject. A splendid read.”
—Stacy Schiff, author of
Cleopatra: A Life
“Michael Korda’s new biography of Lawrence of Arabia is bighearted and provocative—a page-turner that also helps us understand how the Middle east became the confused mess it is today.
Hero
is a magnificent achievement.”
—Nathaniel Philbrick, author of
The Last Stand
“Much has been written about him, but no one has succeeded in illuminating the quintessential Lawrence of Arabia so profoundly and as well as Michael Korda.
Hero
is a work of brilliance, discernment, and meticulous scholarship that surely will be hailed as the gold standard.”
—Henry A. Kissinger
“Lawrence of Arabia, one of the great heroes of any age, has found the right b iographer in Michael Korda—a keen judge of the human condition and a master storyteller who can separate myth from reality without diminishing the grandeur of his subject.”
—evan Thomas, author of
The War Lovers
“A magisterial biography. … Korda’s vivid portrait of Lawrence and his warring impulses captures the brilliance and charisma of this fascinating figure.”
—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
“A splendid biography about a most unusual and extraordinary individual.”
—Hugh Thomas, author of
The Spanish Civil War
With Wings Like Eagles
Ike
Journey to a Revolution
Ulysses S. Grant
Marking Time
Horse People
Making the List
Country Matters
Another Life
Man to Man
The Immortals
Curtain
The Fortune
Queenie
Worldly Goods
Charmed Lives
Success
Power
Male Chauvinism
BY MARGARET KORDA AND
MICHAEL KORDA
Horse Housekeeping
Cat People
INTERIOR PAGES
Title page:
top:
National Portrait Gallery, London,
bottom:
courtesy of Kevin Kwan;
page xx:
“The Sword also Means Cleanness and Death,” front cover of
Seven Pillars of Wisdom
by T. E. Lawrence (published 1935) The Bridgeman Art Library;
page 3:
courtesy of Constable & Robinson Ltd;
page 67:
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, the University of Texas at Austin / estate of John David Roberts. By courtesy of the William Roberts Society;
pages 75 and 97:
the executors of Lady Liddell Hart, deceased;
page 103:
Imperial War Museum, Negative No. IWM Q59193;
page 108:
by Eric Kennington, courtesy of the family of the artist;
page 201:
from
No Golden Journey: Life of James Elroy Flecker
by John Sherwood;
page 213:
(c)The British Library Board. All Rights Reserved 11/01/2010, Add.MS.50584ff.115;
page 245:
(c) Topham / The Image Works;
page 304:
by Sir Mark Sykes, with kind permission of Sir Tatton Sykes;
pages 308 and 324:
the executors of Lady Liddell Hart, deceased;
page 338:
by Eric Kennington, courtesy of family of the artist;
page 369:
the executors of Lady Liddell Hart, deceased;
page 383:
(c)Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust;
page 431:
courtesy of the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club;
page 441:
by James McBey, Imperial War Museum, Negative No. IWM ART 2473;
page 456:
by Sir Mark Sykes, with kind permission of Sir Tatton Sykes;
page 459:
Imperial War Museum, Negative No. IWM Q55581;
page 464:
from
Lawrence of Arabia: The Life, the Legend
by Malcolm Brown, published by Thames & Hudson Ltd;
page 609:
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS. Photogr.c.126, Fol.34r;
page 636:
from
The Golden Reign
by Clare Sydney Smith;
page 665:
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS. Photogr.c.126, Fol.71r;
page 685:
Collection, National Gallery of Ireland, (c)the artist’s estate, photo (c)National Gallery of Ireland.
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSERTS
C
OLOR
Page 1:
(c)Tate, London 2010;
page 2:
top:
(c)Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust,
bottom left:
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford,
bottom right:
(c)Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust;
page 3:
top:
(c)Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust,
bottom:
Imperial War Museum, Negative No. IWM ART 1553;
page 4:
top:
James A. Cannavino Library, Archives & Special Collections, Lowell Thomas Papers, Marist College, USA,
bottom:
Imperial War Museum, Negative No. IWM FIR 8255;
page 5:
top left:
Imperial War Museum, Negative No. IWM 1567,
top right and bottom:
James A. Cannavino Library, Archives & Special Collections, Lowell Thomas Papers, Marist College, USA;
page 6:
top left:
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, the University of Texas at Austin,
top right:
(c)Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust,
bottom:
James A. Cannavino Library, Archives & Special Collections, Lowell Thomas Papers, Marist College, USA;
page
7:
James A. Cannavino Library, Archives & Special Collections, Lowell Thomas Papers, Marist College, USA;
page 8:
top:
from
The Arab Awakening
by George Antonius,
bottom:
National Archives, U.K.
BLACK AND WHITE
Page 1:
top:
from
A Prince of Our Disorder
by John E. Mack,
bottom left:
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS. Photogr.c.126, Fol.2v,
bottom right:
from ”
Lawrence of Arabia”
by Jeremy Wilson;
page 2:
top:
Gertrude Bell Photographic Archive, Newcastle University Archaeology Team,
bottom:
James A. Cannavino Library, Archives & Special Collections, Lowell Thomas Papers, Marist College, USA;
page 3:
top:
James A. Cannavino Library, Archives & Special Collections, Lowell Thomas Papers, Marist College, USA,
bottom:
Imperial War Museum, Negative No. IWM Q58838;
page 4:
top:
Imperial War Museum, Negative No. IWM Q58754,
bottom:
Imperial War Museum, Negative No. IWM Q58863;
page 5:
top:
Imperial War Museum, Negative No. IWM Q12616,
bottom:
from
Lawrence of Arabia: The Life, the Legend
by Malcolm Brown, published by Thames & Hudson Ltd;
page 6:
top:
Hulton Archive / Getty Images,
middle and bottom:
film stills, James A. Cannavino Library, Archives & Special Collections, Lowell Thomas Papers, Marist College, USA;
page 7:
top:
Imperial War Musuem, Negative No. IWM Q59641;
page 8:
top:
General Photographic Agency / Getty Images,
bottom:
(c) Mary Evans Picture Library / Douglas McCarthy / The Image Works;
page 9:
top and bottom:
James A. Cannavino Library, Archives & Special Collections, Lowell Thomas Papers, Marist College, USA;
page 10:
top:
Popperfoto / Getty Images,
bottom:
Ernest H Mills / Getty Images;
page 11:
top:
Hulton Archive / Getty Images,
bottom:
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS. Photogr.c.126, Fol.83r/b;
page 12:
top left:
photo by Sasha, from
The Golden Reign
by Clare Sydney Smith,
top right:
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS. Photogr.c.126, Fol.57r/a,
bottom:
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS. Photogr.c.126, Fol.64v;
page 13:
top:
from
The Golden Reign
by Clare Sydney Smith,
bottom:
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS. Photogr.c.126, Fol.89v/b;
page 14:
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, N. 22891 b. 5, sc00a06661;
page 15:
top:
National Portrait Gallery, London,
bottom:
courtesy of family of the artist;
page 16:
(c) Hulton-Deutsch Collection / Corbis.