Coverart for item
The Resource Lawrence in Arabia : war, deceit, imperial folly and the making of the modern Middle East, Scott Anderson

Lawrence in Arabia : war, deceit, imperial folly and the making of the modern Middle East, Scott Anderson

Label
Lawrence in Arabia : war, deceit, imperial folly and the making of the modern Middle East
Title
Lawrence in Arabia
Title remainder
war, deceit, imperial folly and the making of the modern Middle East
Statement of responsibility
Scott Anderson
Creator
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
A narrative chronicle of World War I's Arab Revolt explores the pivotal roles of a small group of adventurers and low-level officers who orchestrated a secret effort to control the Middle East, demonstrating how they instigated jihad against British forces, built an elaborate intelligence ring and forged ties to gain valuable oil concessions. This is a narrative of one of the most epic and consequential periods in 20th century history, the Arab Revolt and the secret "great game " to control the Middle East. The Arab Revolt against the Turks in World War I was, in the words of T.E. Lawrence, "a sideshow of a sideshow." Amidst the slaughter in European trenches, the Western combatants paid scant attention to the Middle Eastern theater. As a result, the conflict was shaped to a remarkable degree by a small handful of adventurers and low-level officers far removed from the corridors of power. Curt Prufer was an effete academic attached to the German embassy in Cairo, whose clandestine role was to foment Islamic jihad against British rule. Aaron Aaronsohn was a renowned agronomist and committed Zionist who gained the trust of the Ottoman governor of Syria. William Yale was the fallen scion of the American aristocracy, who traveled the Ottoman Empire on behalf of Standard Oil, dissembling to the Turks in order to gain valuable oil concessions. At the center of it all was Lawrence. In early 1914 he was an archaeologist excavating ruins in the sands of Syria; by 1917 he was the most romantic figure of World War One, battling both the enemy and his own government to bring about the vision he had for the Arab people. The intertwined paths of these four men, the schemes they put in place, the battles they fought, the betrayals they endured and committed, mirror the grandeur, intrigue and tragedy of the war in the desert. Prufer became Germany's grand spymaster in the Middle East. Aaronsohn constructed an elaborate Jewish spy-ring in Palestine, only to have the anti-Semitic and bureaucratically-inept British first ignore and then misuse his organization, at tragic personal cost. Yale would become the only American intelligence agent in the entire Middle East, while still secretly on the payroll of Standard Oil. And the enigmatic Lawrence rode into legend at the head of an Arab army, even as he waged secret war against his own nation's imperial ambitions. Based on years of intensive primary document research, this work definitively overturns received wisdom on how the modern Middle East was formed. It condemns the destruction wrought by European colonial plots, and captures the way in which the folly of the past creates the anguish of the present. -- From book jacket
Biography type
contains biographical information
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
1959-
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Anderson, Scott
Dewey number
  • 940.4/1241092
  • B
Illustrations
  • illustrations
  • maps
Index
index present
LC call number
D568.4.L45
LC item number
A66 2013
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Lawrence, T. E.
  • World War, 1914-1918
  • World War, 1914-1918
  • Middle East
  • Soldiers
  • Great Britain
  • Lawrence, T. E.
  • Great Britain
  • World War (1914-1918)
  • Military campaigns
  • Soldiers
  • Great Britain
  • Middle East
  • Turkey
Label
Lawrence in Arabia : war, deceit, imperial folly and the making of the modern Middle East, Scott Anderson
Link
http://swbplus.bsz-bw.de/bsz395220254inh.htm
Instantiates
Publication
Note
Maps on lining papers
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 543-552) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
  • The man who would be kingmaker
  • Neatly in the void
  • A mist of deceits
  • An audacious scheme
  • Aqaba
  • Hubris
  • To the flame
  • A gathering fury
  • Solitary pursuits
  • Damascus
  • Playboys in the holy land
  • Paris
  • A very unusual type
  • Another and another nice thing
  • To the last million
  • A despicable mess
  • The keepers of secrets
  • Treachery
  • The battle joined
Control code
1435986
Dimensions
25 cm
Edition
First Edition.
Extent
xii, 577 pages ;
Isbn
9780385532921
Lccn
2012049719
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Other physical details
illustrations, maps
System control number
  • (Sirsi) 1435986
  • (Sirsi) 1435986
  • (OCoLC)823387420
Label
Lawrence in Arabia : war, deceit, imperial folly and the making of the modern Middle East, Scott Anderson
Link
http://swbplus.bsz-bw.de/bsz395220254inh.htm
Publication
Note
Maps on lining papers
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 543-552) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
  • The man who would be kingmaker
  • Neatly in the void
  • A mist of deceits
  • An audacious scheme
  • Aqaba
  • Hubris
  • To the flame
  • A gathering fury
  • Solitary pursuits
  • Damascus
  • Playboys in the holy land
  • Paris
  • A very unusual type
  • Another and another nice thing
  • To the last million
  • A despicable mess
  • The keepers of secrets
  • Treachery
  • The battle joined
Control code
1435986
Dimensions
25 cm
Edition
First Edition.
Extent
xii, 577 pages ;
Isbn
9780385532921
Lccn
2012049719
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Other physical details
illustrations, maps
System control number
  • (Sirsi) 1435986
  • (Sirsi) 1435986
  • (OCoLC)823387420

Library Locations

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