Seven Pillars of Wisdom

In writing his extraordinary account of the Arab Revolt of 1916–1918 and his own role in it, T.E. Lawrence sought literary advice from his good friends E.M. Forster and George Bernard Shaw. With their encouragement, Lawrence produced an epic manuscript that became the focus of a desperate public search after he lost the majority of the text in a train station. The original was never found, and the indefatigable Lawrence produced a second text from memory. Widely regarded as the last great romantic war story and described by Winston Churchill as one of “the greatest books ever written in the English language,” it conveys a world of wonders from a life less ordinary, transcribed in the same committed fashion that Lawrence applied to his duties in Syria. A towering achievement as both autobiography and military history, as well as a first-rate adventure story, Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a must-listen for all.