Lawrence of Arabia is viewed as a man of great talents, performing striking feats of bravery, leadership, and will--and also as a masochist, who hated and despised himself. This biography comes closer than any other to explaining why Lawrence forsook public life and a colonels rank for the life of a private in the Royal Air Force. This balanced study of a man whose character and achievements have been much debated is based on a review of virtually every published and unpublished English source in British and U.S. libraries and archives, including the important archive of Lawrences letters and papers in the Bodleian Library. Part I discusses Lawrences life in a conventional chronological sequence. Part II is devoted to enduring themes: his living and spending habits; his relations with family members and friends; and the elements of genius and madness, honesty and evasiveness, vanity and humility, and masochism, in his nature.

First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.