Other editions of book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Seven Pillars of Wisdom remains, like its enigmatic creator brilliant and controversial. One of the major statements about fighting experience of the First World War, it describes the revolt in Arabia against the Turks, as it appeared to an Englishman who took part. Around this chronicle Lawrence has strung together an unexampled fabric of portraits, descriptions and philosophies, emotions, adventures and dreams, recreating epic events with extraordinary vividness.

In Seven Pillars of Wisdom we have a timely book, and one that will remain timely into the foreseeable future. In Lawrence we have an impeccable witness; not a diplomat, not a politician, not a lobbyist, but a scholar and a soldier who embodied that vestige of chivalry that has now all but vanished. He records what he saw and what he undertook, living among those warriors whom he led in a manner seldom experienced by any other officer. Hence, Lawrence had empathy for the Arabs that will hopefully be of keen interest to the present generations who are fed a daily diet of Islamophobia and Arabophobia, literally 'anti-Semitism', since it is the Arabs who are the sons of Shem. The picture given by Lawrence is of a people very different from today's media and Hollywood stereotypes that are part of a propaganda offensive to justify a genocidal war against a people and a faith which could not only have co-existed with, but which could have remained as firm friends, with the West on the basis of the friendship that had been cultivated by Lawrence. As Seven Pillars shows, the 'West' and the Arabs and all of Islam are now embroiled in a conflict that has it's roots in the diplomatic duplicity during World War I, which has brought chaos to a large expanse of the world, and which shows no signs of abating in the lifetime of any reader of this book. Lawrence here sets the dramatic background against which this tragedy is being played out.

2011 Reprint of 1935 Edition. Facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. "Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph" is the autobiographical account of the experiences of British soldier T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"), while serving as a liaison officer with rebel forces during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turks of 1916 to 1918. Charles Hill has described this book as "a novel traveling under the cover of autobiography," capturing Lawrence's highly personal version of the historical events described in the book. The Arab Revolt (1916-1918) was initiated by the Sherif Hussein bin Ali with the aim of securing independence from the ruling Ottoman Turks and creating a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen. During the Arab Revolt of 1917-18 Lawrence based his operations in Wadi Rum (now a part of Jordan), and one of the more impressive rock formations in the area was named by Lawrence "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom". In the end, Lawrence decided to use this evocative title for the memoirs he penned in the aftermath of the war.