A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T. E. Lawrence
When this Pulitzer Prize-winning biography first appeared in 1976, it rescued T. E. Lawrence from the mythologizing that had seemed to be his fate. In it, John Mack humanely and objectively explores the relationship between Lawrence's inner life and his historically significant actions.\ Extensive interviews, far-flung correspondence, access to War Office dispatches and unpublished letters provide the basis for Mack's sensitive investigation of the psychiatric dimensions of Lawrence's...
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When this Pulitzer Prize-winning biography first appeared in 1976, it rescued T. E. Lawrence from the mythologizing that had seemed to be his fate. In it, John Mack humanely and objectively explores the relationship between Lawrence's inner life and his historically significant actions.Extensive interviews, far-flung correspondence, access to War Office dispatches and unpublished letters provide the basis for Mack's sensitive investigation of the psychiatric dimensions of Lawrence's personality. In addition, Mack examines the pertinent history, politics, and sociology of the time in order to weigh the real forces with which Lawrence contended and which impinged upon him. New York Times Book Review We are not likely to get as thorough and judicious a biography of T. E. Lawrence for some time.
Preface, 1998IntroductionPART 1: Family Background and Childhood1. Chapmans and Lawrences2. Childhood and Adolescence3. Lawrence and His Family: The Burden of IllegitimacyPART 2: YouthIntroduction4. Literary Influences5. Crusader Castles6. Lawrence at Jesus College, 1907-19107. The First Trip to the Middle East, 19098. Lawrence at Carchemish9. The Epic Dream and the Fact of WarPART 3: The War Years, 1914-1918Introduction10. The Background of the Arab Revolt11.Two Years in Cairo, 1914-191612. The Course of the Arab Revolt13. The Capture of Damascus14. The Achievements of "Aurens"15. The Question of Motivation16. Lawrence the Enabler17. The Conflict of Responsibility18. The Heroic Legend and the Hero19. The Shattering of the DreamPART 4: The Political Years, 1918-1922Introduction20. Arab Self-determination and Arab Unity21. Leaving Damascus Behind22. At the Paris Peace Conference23. Return to England: London and All Souls24. Lawrence and Churchill: The Political Settlements in the Middle EastPART 5: The Years in the Ranks, 1922-193525. The Service Years: An Overview26. Ross: The First RAF Enlistment27. The Years in the Tanks28. Cranwell29. India30. Mount Batten31. "Boats, Boats, Boats"32. Retirement and DeathPART 6: Further Dimensions33. Intimacy, Sexuality and Penance34. Lawrence AssayedAppendix: Twenty-Seven ArticlesChapter NotesBibliographyCopyright AcknowledgmentsIndex
\ Boston Sunday GlobeA great book which honors its subject, its form, and its author.\ \ \ \ \ \ Contemporary ReviewUnlike many 'psycho-biographies', this was written by a trained psychologist who had also done his biographer's homework: it remains the best biography of T.E. Lawrence.\ \ \ \ New York Times Book ReviewWe are not likely to get as thorough and judicious a biography of T. E. Lawrence for some time.\ \ \ \ \ \ NewsweekMack's handling of this information is a model of sensitive psychoanalytical expertise.\ \ \ \ \ \ The GuardianA hugely admired, and Pulitzer prize-winning, biography which concentrates on the relationship between Lawrence's inner life and the actions and events which grew out of them. It is easy to warm to a biographer who, while drawing on his training as a psychiatrist, is never deceived into thinking that theory can 'explain' his Lawrence. The more Mack discovered about the social contexts of Lawrence's actions and the demands on a public man, the more he understood Lawrence's psychology. The result is a resounding confirmation of this approach to his subject.\ — Desmond Christy\ \ \ \ \ \ TimeTakes us closer to the core of Lawrence than any previous biography.\ \ \
