T. E. Lawrence was one of the most charismatic characters of the First World War; a young archaeologist who fought with the Arabs and wrote an epic and very personal account of their revolt against the Turks in Seven Pillars of Wisdom . Yet this was not the first book to carry that iconic title. In 1914 the man who would become Lawrence of Arabia burnt the first Seven Pillars of Wisdom , a manuscript in which he described his adventures in the Middle East during the five years before the war. Anthony Sattin uncovers the story Lawrence wanted to conceal: the truth of his birth, his tortuous relationship with a dominant mother, his deep affection for an Arab boy, the intimate details of the extraordinary journeys he took through the region with which his name is forever connected and the personal reasons that drove him from being a student to becoming an archaeologist and a spy. Young Lawrence is the first book to focus on the story of T. E. Lawrence in his twenties, before the war, during the period he looked back on as his golden years. Using first-hand sources, museum records and Foreign Office documents, Sattin sets these adventures against the background of corrosive conflicts in Libya and the Balkans. He shows the simmering defiance of Arabs, Armenians and Kurds under Turkish domination, while uncovering the story of an exceptional young man searching for happiness, love and his place in the world until war changed his life forever.

Sattin makes a superb job of reconstructing that lost record of Lawrence's life before he became a war hero . . . Sattin is excellent on the troubled history of the region, and the 'what ifs' are enough to make your heart break

Vorwort
A biography of Lawrence of Arabia in the years that formed him.

Autorentext

Anthony Sattin is an author, journalist and broadcaster. A graduate of the University of East Anglia Creative Writing Masters programme, he began his career writing and reviewing fiction before turning to narrative non-fiction. His highly acclaimed books of history and travel include Young Lawrence, A Winter on the Nile, The Pharaoh's Shadow, The Gates of Africa and Lifting the Veil. His latest book, Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World, is a work of history that looks at the shifting relations between nomadic and settled people over the past 12,000 years, since the time when we all lived on the move. A contributing editor to Condé Nast Traveller, editorial advisor on Geographical Magazine and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, he lives between London and the Middle East. Each spring for the past 18 years Anthony has guided a tour by sailboat up the Nile.

Zusammenfassung
A biography of Lawrence of Arabia in the years that formed him.