Main navigation:

Bibliography: Books and Book Reviews on T.E. Lawrence

The format for this bibliography has been created to underscore the continuing interest in T.E. Lawrence over the last nine decades, as well as the changing critiques of the man and of his biographers. We have also included links to a number of book reviews. The bibliography illustrates that while there remains keen interest in Lawrence, there has been a remarkable lack of material on Thomas, with the notable exception of the Archives and Special Collections at the James A. Cannavino Library at Marist College, the major resource of information for this exhibit.

In the course of our research we uncovered the remarkable bibliographic collection of Philip O’Brien, T.E. Lawrence: A Bibliography, and in many cases where our information differed from his we deferred. We appreciate additions or corrections to any of our materials; please contact info@[remove this text]cliohistory.org.

1920s

1924: Lowell Thomas, With Lawrence in Arabia

1927: Lowell Thomas, The Boys’ Life of Colonel Lawrence.

1927: Robert Graves, Lawrence and the Arabs.

1927: E. V. Timms (as "David Roseler"), Lawrence, Prince of Mecca, Australia Cornstalk Publishing Company, Sydney 1927, Octavo, original cloth, dust jacket, (228pp.), Frontispiece Illustration by Edgar A Holloway.

1930s

1930: Gurney Slade, In Lawrence’s Bodyguard. A work of fiction.

1934: B.H. Liddell Hart, Colonel Lawrence, the Man Behind the Legend.

1934: B.H. Liddell Hart, ‘T.E. Lawrence’  In Arabia and After.

1935: Reginald. H. Kiernan, Lawrence of Arabia.

1935: Edward Robinson, Lawrence: The Story of His Life. With an introductory note by A. W. Lawrence.

1936: Vyvyan Richards, Portrait of T.E. Lawrence.

1937: Seldon Rodman, Lawrence, The Last Crusade. A dramatic-narrative poem.

1937: A. W. Lawrence, T.E. Lawrence By His Friends.

1938:  R. R. Graves and B. H. Liddell Hart, T.E. Lawrence To His Biographer, Robert Graves and T.E. Lawrence To His Biographer, Liddell Hart. Two volumes.

Review: December 28, 1938, T.E. Lawrence to his Biographers, “Books of the Times,” Charles Poore, New York Times. (Abstract)

Review: August 25, 1963, T.E. Lawrence to his Biographers, “Once There Was a Hero, Now Only His Legend Remains,” George Steiner, New York Times. (Abstract)

1938: David Garnett, The Lettersof T.E. Lawrence. Reflective collection of writings and interviews on Lawrence by the people who knew him best.

Review: March 10, 1939, The Letters of T.E. Lawrence, “Books of the Times,” Charles Poore, New York Times. (Abstract)

1939: Vyvyan Richards, T.E. Lawrence.

To top

1940s

1940: William F. Burbidge,The Mysterious A.C.2, A Biographical Sketch of Lawrence of Arabia.

1940: Clare Sydney Smith, The Golden Reign. The Story of My Friendship with “Lawrence of Arabia”. Republished 2004 with introduction by Malcolm Brown.

1946: Edward Robinson, Lawrence the Rebel.

1950s

1954: A.W. Lawrence, T.E. Lawrence By His Friends. Second edition.

1955: Richard Aldington, Lawrence of Arabia, a Biographical Enquiry.

Review: October 2, 1955, Lawrence of Arabia: A Biographical Inquiry, “A Hero Challenged,” Carlos Baker, New York Times. (Abstract)

1955: Flora Armitage, The Desert and the Stars: A Biography of Lawrence of Arabia. Illustrated with photographs.

Review: September 4, 1955, The Desert and the Stars, “To Glory and Back,” Selden Rodman, New York Times. (Abstract)

1959: John Bagot Glubb, Britain and the Arabs: A Study of Fifty Years, 1908 to 1958.

1959: Jean Beraud Villars, T.E. Lawrence Or the Search for the Absolute. US publication date.

Review: March 15, 1959, T.E. Lawrence Or the Search for the Absolute, “The Mystery of the Man,” D. W. Brogan, New York Times. (Abstract)

1960s

1961: Anthony Nutting, Lawrence of Arabia. The Man and the Motive.

Review: December 31, 1961, Lawrence of Arabia. The Man and the Motive, “Political Motivations Wrapped in a Personal Enigma,” Stanlely Weintraub, New York Times. (Abstract)

1962: Lowell Thomas, With Lawrence in Arabia, with a new introduction by the author. Third edition.

1963:  Stanley Weintraub, Private Shaw and Public Shaw. A Dual Portrait of Lawrence of Arabia and G.B.S.

1963: David Garnett, The Letters of T.E. Lawrence. Revised edition with a new forward by B.H. Liddell Hart.

1963: Victoria Ocampo, T.E. (Lawrence of Arabia). First published in Argentina, 1942.

1964: Vyvyan Richards, Portrait of T.E. Lawrence. First American edition.

1966: Suleiman Mousa, T.E. Lawrence: An Arab View.

1969: Phillip Knightley and Colin Simpson, The Secret Lives of Lawrence of Arabia.

Review: March 21, 1970, The Secret Lives of Lawrence of Arabia, “Man and Legend,” Thomas Lask, New York Times. (Abstract)

To top

1970s

1972: Frank Clements, T.E. Lawrence, A Reader’s Guide.

1973: Peter Mansfield,  Lawrence and His Legacy.

1973: Zeine N. Zeine, The Emergence of Arab Nationalism: With a Background Study of Arab-Turkish Relations in the Near East.

1974: Jeffrey Meyers, T.E. Lawrence: A Bibliography.

1975:  Stanley Weintraub and Rodelle Weintraub, Lawrence of Arabia, The Literary Impulse.

1975: Peter Brent, T.E. Lawrence.

1976: Richard Perceval Graves, Lawrence of Arabia and His World.

1976: John E. Mack, A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of  T.E. Lawrence.

Review: March 21, 1976, A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T.E. Lawrence, Paul Zweig, New York Times. (Abstract)

1977: Desmond Stewart, T.E. Lawrence.

Review: September 29, 1977, T.E. Lawrence, “Rigging the Lawrence Case,” Nigel Dennis, The New York Review of Books.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1977/sep/29/rigging-the-lawrence-case/

Reply to “Rigging the Lawrence Case,” Desmond Stewart, The New York Review of Books.

Review: November 4, 1977, T.E. Lawrence, “Books: Seven Pillars of Fiction?”, Thomas Lask, New York Times. (Abstract)

Review: November 6, 1977, T.E. Lawrence, “A Humbug Exalted,” Hugh Trevor-Roper, New York Times. (Abstract)

1977: H. Montgomery Hyde, Solitary in the Ranks: Lawrence of Arabia as Airman and Private Soldier.

1977: Paul J. Marriott, The Young Lawrence of Arabia.

1978: Stephen E. Tabachnick, T.E. Lawrence.

1978: H.V.F. Winstone, Gertrude Bell.

1980s

1985: Michael Yardley: Backing into the Limelight. A Biography of T.E. Lawrence.

Review: December 31, 1987, Backing into the Limelight, “A biography: T.E. Lawrence,” National Review.

1986:  Charles Blackmore: In the Footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia.

1987: Victoria Carchidi, Creation Out of the Void: The Making of a Hero, an Epic, a World: T.E. Lawrence, doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.

1987: Rodney Legg, Lawrence of Arabia in Dorset.

1988: Stephen E. Tabachnick and Christopher Matheson, Images of Lawrence.

1988:  Malcolm Brown and Julia Cave, A Touch of Genius. The Life of T.E. Lawrence.

1989: Jeremy Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorized Biography of T.E. Lawrence.

1989: Ronald D. Knight, T.E. Lawrence: His Orders, Decorations, and Medals.

 

To top

1990s

1990: Jeremy Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia: the Authorized Biography of T.E. Lawrence.

1990: Lawrence James, The Golden Warrior: The life and legend of Lawrence of Arabia

1991: M.D. Allen, The Medievalism of Lawrence of Arabia.

1991: Rashid Khalidi, editor, The Origins of Arab Nationalism.

1992: Sidney Sugarman, A Garland of Legends: “Lawrence of Arabia” and “The Arab Revolt.”

1993: Robin Bidwell, editor, The Diary Kept by T.E. Lawrence While Travelling in Arabia During 1911.

1993: Harold Orlans, Lawrence of Arabia, Strange Man of Letters. The Literary Criticism and Correspondence of T.E. Lawrence.

Review: 1996, Lawrence of Arabia, Strange Man of Letters, “T.E. Lawrence’s Criticism,” Stephen E. Tabachnick, English Literature in Transition, 39:1.

1993: Eliezer Tauber, The Emergence of the Arab Movements.

1995: Joel Hodson, Lawrence of Arabia and American Culture: The Making of a Transatlantic Legend

1995: Richard Knowles, introduction: Cats and Landladies’ Husbands, T.E. Lawrence in Bridlington.

1995: Renee and Andre Guillaume, An Introduction and Notes. T.E. Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom, in French.

Review: Spring 2001, An Introduction and Notes. T.E. Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom, “Modern History and Politics,” Harold E. Raugh, Jr., Middle East Journal.

1996: Paul Marriott and Yvonne Argent, The Last Days of T.E. Lawrence: A Leaf in the Wind.

1996: Janet Wallach, Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia.

1997: Jonathan Rutherford: Forever England: Reflections on Race, Masculinity and Empire. Chapter on Lawrence.

1997: Peter Hogan: Australians of Arabia… and Lawrence. Monograph.

1997: J. N. Lockman, Parallel Captures. Lord Jim and Lawrence of Arabia.

1997: Jean Loup Julien. Chroniques de L’Histoire, Lawrence d’Arabie.

1997: Lucien Poirier, T.E. Lawrence, Stratege.

1997: A. G. Prys-Jones, A Memory of T.E. Lawrence.

1998: Christophe Leclerc, Avec T.E. Lawrence en Arabie. La Mission militaire francaise au Hedjaz 1916-1920.

1998: Fred D. Crawford, Richard Aldington and Lawrence of Arabia: A Cautionary Tale.

Review: October 1, 2000, Richard Aldington and Lawrence of Arabia: A Cautionary Tale, Harold E. Raugh Jr., Middle East Journal.

1999: D. G. Thom: Portrait of a Mind-Suicide. A self-relational study of T.E. Lawrence with constant reference to Kierkegaard.

1999:  Michael Asher, Lawrence, The Uncrowned King of Arabia.

Review: October 19, 1999, Lawrence: The Uncrowned King of Arabia, “Shifting Sand Beneath a Heroic Image,” Michiko Kakutani, New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/19/books/books-of-the-times-shifting-sand-beneath-a-heroic-image.html?scp=21&sq=T.+E.+Lawrence&st=nyt

1999: Steven Charles Caton, Lawrence of Arabia, A Film's Anthropology.

Review: June 30, 2000, Lawrence of Arabia: A Film’s Anthropology, Felicity Collins, La Trobe University, Screening the Past.

http://www.screeningthepast.com/2014/12/lawrence-of-arabia-a-films-anthropology/

1999: Efraim Karsh, Empires of the Sand: The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East, 1789-1923.

Review: December 1, 1999, Empires of the Sand, “Romantic Notions of Mideast History Challenged,” Richard Bernstein, New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/01/books/books-of-the-times-romantic-notions-of-mideast-history-challenged.html?emc=eta1

To top

2000s

2000: Paul Tunbridge, With Lawrence in the Royal Air Force. 

http://www.maartenschild.com/lawrence/

Review: M. J. Evans, The Royal Air Force Air Power, Autumn 2000, p. 139 Vol. 3 # 3.      

http://www.airpowerstudies.co.uk/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/aprvol3no3.pdf

2000: Philip O’Brien, T.E. Lawrence: A Bibliography. Revised and expanded edition.

2001: Andrew Norman, T.E. LAWRENCE. Unravelling the Enigma, revised and updated 2008.

2002:  Phillip Knightley, Introduction to reprint Lowell Thomas, With Lawrence in Arabia, 1924.

2002:  Charles M. Stang, editor, The Waking Dream of T.E. Lawrence: Essays on His Life, Literature and Legacy.

2002: Harold Orlans, T.E. Lawrence. Biography of a Broken Hero.

2002: Hamilton, Jill (Duchess of Hamilton). First to Damascus: The Story of the Australian Light Horse and Lawrence of Arabia.

Website: “Australians of Arabia,” http://australiansofarabia.wordpress.com/about/

2002: Anthony Bruce, The Last Crusade. The Palestine Campaign in the First World War.

2003: Malcolm Brown. T.E. Lawrence.

Review: March 22, 2005, T.E. Lawrence, “T.E. Lawrence. Book Review,” The Historian.

2003: Richard Knowles, Precious Caskets: the friendship of T.E. Lawrence & William McCance.

2004: Stephen E. Tabachnick, Lawrence of Arabia An Encyclopedia.

2004: Clare Sydney Smith,  The Golden Reign. The Story of My Friendship with Lawrence of Arabia. Introduction by Malcolm Brown.

2005: Malcolm Brown, Lawrence of Arabia: the Life, the Legend.

2005: Malcolm Brown, T. E. Lawrence in War and Peace: An Anthology of the Military Writings of Lawrence of Arabia.

Exhibition, Imperial War Museum, London: http://www.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/54/Lawrence/index.htm

2005: Rodney Legg, Lawrence of Dorset: from Arabia to Clouds Hill.

2005: James Nicholson, The Hejaz Railway.

Review: January 2007, The Hejaz Railway, Jeremy Wilson, T.E. Lawrence Studies.

http://www.telawrencestudies.org/telawrencestudies/reviews/hejaz_railway.htm

2006: James Barr, Setting the Desert on Fire. T.E. Lawrence and Britain’s Secret War in Arabia 1916-1918.

Review: February 29, 2008, Setting the Desert on Fire, “James Barr’s ‘Desert’ probes Lawrence of Arabia’s claims,” John Hartl, Seattle Times.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2004246799_lawrence02.html

Review: April 2009, Setting the Desert on Fire, Major Jennifer Clark, The Army Lawyer.

http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/AL-2009.html

2007: Ronald Florence, Lawrence and Aaronsohn: T.E. Lawrence, Aaron Aaronsohn, and the Seeds of the Arab-Israeli Conflict.

2007: Catalogue for Australian War Memorial website exhibit: Lawrence of Arabia and the Light Horse.

https://www.awm.gov.au/visit/exhibitions/lawrence

2007: Adrian Greaves, Lawrence of Arabia, Mirage of a Desert War.

2007: Ibn Warraq, Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Saids Orientalism.

Review: Winter 2009, Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Saids Orientalism, “Deconstructing Edward Said,” A.J. Caschetta, Middle East Quarterly.

http://www.meforum.org/2069/defending-the-west

2008: Karl E. Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac, Kingmakers: the Invention of the Modern Middle East.

Review: August 10, 2008, Kingmakers: the Invention of the Modern Middle East, “Meddle East,” Alex von Tunzelmann, New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/books/review/Von-Tunzelmann-t.html?_r=1

Review: June 2009, Rory Miller, King’s College London, Reviews in History.

http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/764#header

2008: Philip O’Brien, Supplement to T.E. Lawrence: A Bibliography.

2008: Guy Penaud, Le Tour de France de Lawrence d'Arabie.

2008: Andrew R.B. Simpson, Another Life: Lawrence after Arabia.

2008: David Murphy, The Arab Revolt 1916-1918: Lawrence Sets Arabia Ablaze.

2009: David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East.

2009: John C. Hulsman, To Begin the World Over Again: Lawrence of Arabia from Damascus to Baghdad.

To top

2010s

2010: Michael Korda, Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia.

Review: November 22, 2010, Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia. “Lawrence: Fresh Look at Lawrence of the Desert,” Janet Maslin, New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/22/books/22book.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Review: December 24, 2010, Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia. “Arabian Knight,” Ben MacIntyre, New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/books/review/Macintyre-t.html?ref=review

Review: January 3, 2011, Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia, Cmdr. Youssef Aboul-Enein, Small Wars Journal.

http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2011/01/book-review-herolawrence-of-ar/index.php


2011: James J. Schneider, Guerrilla Leader: T. E. Lawrence and the Arab Revolt.

2011: Joseph Berton, T. E. Lawrence and the Arab Revolt, An Illustrated Guide.

2013: Scott Anderson, Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East.

 Review: August 1, 2013, Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East. "What Would Lawrence of Arabia Say Today?" Tom Ashbrook, On Point, National Public Radio.

http://onpoint.wbur.org/2013/07/31/lawrence-middle-east

 Review: August 8, 2013, Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East. "Who Was T.E. Lawrence?" by Alex Von Tunzelmann, The New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/books/review/lawrence-in-arabia-by-scott-anderson.html?_r=0

2015: Anthony Sattin, The Young T.E. Lawrence.

2015: John Johnson Allen, T.E. Lawrence and the Red Sea Patrol.

2015: Dr. Andrew Norman, Lawrence of Arabia’s Clouds Hill.

2015: Dick Benson-Gyles, The Boy in the Mask: The Hidden World of Lawrence of Arabia.

 

To top