- Seven Pillars Of Wisdom - T E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)
This is Lawrence of Arabia's account of the Arab Revolt of 1916-1918. During WWI, British strategists decided that it would be a good idea to fuel Arab discontent, encourage them to revolt, and bankroll their military ambitions to further destabilise the Ottoman Empire who was fighting the Allies alongside Germany. To this end, they send Oxford-educated Arab-speaking inexperienced and young T E Lawrence to Arabia.
I was hoping for interesting anecdotes and historical insight, but instead got 700+ pages of dull road trips in the desert and some pompous musings, peppered with some shocking racism and gross generalisations. In all, a very long and tedious disappointment.
The author was clearly gay - there is a rather surprisingly large amount of description of Arab fighters' dark-skinned athletic bodies, and quite a bit of this: "... friends quivering together in the yielding sand with intimate hot limbs in supreme embrace, found there hidden in the darkness a sensual co-efficient of the mental passion which was welding our souls and spirits in one flaming effort." There is of course also the dedication in the beginning of the book:
To S.A.
I loved you, so I drew these tides of
Men into my hands
And wrote my will across the
Sky and stars
To earn you freedom, the seven
Pillared worthy house,
That your eyes might be
Shining for me
When I came
... to Selim Ahmed, also called "Dahoum" in the book.
I'm not recommending this book, unless you have several weeks to waste on 700+ pages of drivel.