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A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T.E. Lawrence
First published in 1976, John Mack's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography humanely and objectively explores the relationship between T.E. Lawrence's inner life and his historically significant actions. Extensive research provides the basis for Mack's sensitive investigation of the psychological dimensions of Lawrence's personality and with the history, sociology, and politics of his time. 27 photos.
561 pages, Paperback
First published July 28, 1976
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About the author
John E. Mack
29 books111 followersAmerican psychiatrist, writer, and professor at Harvard Medical School.
He was a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, and a leading authority on the spiritual or transformational effects of alleged alien abduction experiences.
He was a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, and a leading authority on the spiritual or transformational effects of alleged alien abduction experiences.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
October 16, 2023
Most people say they discovered T.E. Lawrence because of the 1962 film, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. For me, it was A PRINCE OF OUR DISORDER - "...John Mack's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography humanely and objectively explores the relationship between T.E. Lawrence's inner life and his historically significant actions."
After that, my usual obsessive nature kicked in and I had to know more about this amazing individual. TEL and the many lives he touched and who touched his, the events he lived through and influenced, his humanity and imperfections, they all tell a complex and very human story that we can all relate to, and learn from. But in the end, I insist that not all men are created equal, and that some are extraordinary, and that Lawrence was one of them.
In his book, Mack does an extraordinary thing that none of TEL's other biographers do - he analyzes him with compassion. He is a good biographer, in that he tries to give us not only the WHAT, but he also tries to give us the WHY. To read about his family life, his complex relationship with his mother, his discomfort with the physical (the body, sexuality per se, relating to the opposite sex, etc.), his need to push himself mentally and physically, the Derra incident and how he dealt with it for the rest of his life including the masochism, and his love for speed, that eventually killed him. It is all here, and Mack goes behind the curtain on all of these, and more...
After that, my usual obsessive nature kicked in and I had to know more about this amazing individual. TEL and the many lives he touched and who touched his, the events he lived through and influenced, his humanity and imperfections, they all tell a complex and very human story that we can all relate to, and learn from. But in the end, I insist that not all men are created equal, and that some are extraordinary, and that Lawrence was one of them.
In his book, Mack does an extraordinary thing that none of TEL's other biographers do - he analyzes him with compassion. He is a good biographer, in that he tries to give us not only the WHAT, but he also tries to give us the WHY. To read about his family life, his complex relationship with his mother, his discomfort with the physical (the body, sexuality per se, relating to the opposite sex, etc.), his need to push himself mentally and physically, the Derra incident and how he dealt with it for the rest of his life including the masochism, and his love for speed, that eventually killed him. It is all here, and Mack goes behind the curtain on all of these, and more...
August 6, 2015
A little too much psychiatry and too little history for my taste, but I suppose I should have read the author's blurb that John Mack was a professor of psychiatry at Harvard. Most books about Lawrence focus - rightly - on the 2 years he spent leading the Arab Revolt but there was obviously much more to the man than that. Scholar, archaeologist, diplomat, warrior, author and a small boat expert! He was also much loved and admired by almost everyone who came in contact with him professionally and personally. I admit that in a character as complicated and unconventional as Lawrence, a certain amount of the interior man must be examined, and if you like that sort of psycho-biography, this elegantly-written book will certainly reward you, but it's not what I like. T. E. Lawrence definitely had issues and I had always been curious, for instance, as to why he chose to spend most of his adult life in the RAF as a ranker, and this, along with the motives for almost everything else Lawrence did, are examined. A fascinating fellow indeed but Mack's psychological probing is almost painfully deep, and I would have preferred more information about Lawrence's interaction with the Bedouin and less about his flagellation fantasies.
February 20, 2016
A Prince of Our Disorder is a great book, and well written. Some aspects are easier to read than others. It is a bit dated, published the year that I was born which unfortunately dates myself. I originally discovered some of the antics of T.E. Lawrence through the 1962 film. One day in the mid 90’s I came across Seven Pillars of Wisdom in a chain bookshop and fell in love with that book and Lawrence’s life.
There is so much more to this man that any movie could ever attempt to portray. Really a single book has a hard time doing it. Multifaceted and born outside of time Lawrence has such an appeal to my curiosity. For me in the later stages of the book Mack goes overboard with the psychiatric analysis, nearly to the point of paralyzing the reader. There is a lot of guess work and liberties taken to fill in the blanks that time and lack of data prevents us from having. Although I feel that his analysis to a certain degree is very accurate.
What this book gets right: A thorough and overall biography of T.E. Lawrence – the book does not sell itself short.
What this book gets wrong: Not necessarily wrong but some of the analysis is a bit much for someone that is lightly to moderately interested in Lawrence. This aspect did not detract too much from the overall work.
There is so much more to this man that any movie could ever attempt to portray. Really a single book has a hard time doing it. Multifaceted and born outside of time Lawrence has such an appeal to my curiosity. For me in the later stages of the book Mack goes overboard with the psychiatric analysis, nearly to the point of paralyzing the reader. There is a lot of guess work and liberties taken to fill in the blanks that time and lack of data prevents us from having. Although I feel that his analysis to a certain degree is very accurate.
What this book gets right: A thorough and overall biography of T.E. Lawrence – the book does not sell itself short.
What this book gets wrong: Not necessarily wrong but some of the analysis is a bit much for someone that is lightly to moderately interested in Lawrence. This aspect did not detract too much from the overall work.
June 1, 2013
I selected this biography, among the many written about TE Lawrence because of the Pulitzer and because of its reputation of being balanced. Reviews of other biographies warn of hagiography or vilification and I wanted "just the facts, ma'am". Granted, this is a psychological biography, so the facts are presented beautifully, but there is a bit of interpretation that is well-presented. After all, Mr. Mack had been a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He should know. Mack is a compassionate biographer, and it is apparent from the text how deeply moved he was by his research into Lawrence's troubled life. I actually cried several times while reading this, and learned to not sit down with this book unless I had the tissues next to the chair. I never knew when something would leap up from the page and stab at me. There is a scene described, when Lawrence, as a young man, shyly and painfully proposes marriage to a girl he has loved since they were children. She laughs at him. (She thinks he can't be serious. He has never made any indication that his company has ever been other than brotherly.) Later in Seven Pillars he writes, "There was my craving to be liked--so strong and nervous that never could I open myself friendly to another. The terror of failure in an effort so important made me shrink from trying; besides, there was the standard; for intimacy seemed shameful unless the other could make the perfect reply, in the same language, after the same method, for the same reasons." And after a different kind of traumatic experience in Dera'a, he could not bear to be touched. By anyone. This is an excellent biography of a complex and troubled man who tried to do the impossible and failed tragically. Or succeeded magnificently, depending on who you ask, and when.
May 11, 2015
This is the first "psychological biography" that I've ever read, and I'm conflicted about the value of such books. While Mack, whose book won the Pulitzer Prize, leaves no stone unturned in revealing Lawrence's unconscious motives, his narrow focus leaves little room for the creativity and ingenuity of the conscious mind, or the powerful influences of history, political necessity, and culture, especially the various cultures that Lawrence adapted to out of necessity. I finished the book feeling like I now know more than I really need or want to about Lawrence and his neuroses, and yet I know almost nothing about what he'd actually done (although quite a lot about how he felt about what he'd done). This book should be read only as a companion piece to a more general history of the Arab Revolt and the Middle East during WWI.
September 22, 2020
A well-researched, enjoyable and insightful “historical and psychological study” of Lawrence. The book has suffered a bit from Mack’s later notoriety as a devotee and promoter of the personal stories of people who claimed to have been abducted by aliens.
The narrative is accessible and well-written. Mack basically views Lawrence as a boy who never fully grew up. He describes Lawrence’s desire to avoid attention, his guilt, his inner conflicts, and his personal interests. He also covers the effects of Lawrence’s peculiar home life, and his desires to both achieve fame and avoid the public spotlight. He also suggests that Lawrence’s wartime exploits were a way for him to act out the “hero fantasies” he acquired from reading about people like Richard I. Mack mostly avoids the question of Lawrence’s sexual orientation, arguing that he was both ignorant of and disgusted by sex. Mack does not analyze the military exploits of Lawrence or the political impact of what he accomplished, although he does dispute that Lawrence was purely a cynic, an imperialist, or an Arab nationalist, and that he had elements of all these.
The book has some psychobabble and can get a bit slow or dull at times. Mack writes that Lawrence had a strong influence on both the war in the Middle East and the postwar situation. This seems like a bit much; Lawrence did encourage the hopes and dreams of Arab nationalists, but was he really that successful? The narrative also feels a bit patronizing at times, like when Mack feels the need to provide definitions for things like “trauma.” The maps also seem to have some errors and typos.
Some claims Mack makes are questionable. He takes at face value Lawrence’s claim that the Arabs would not have tolerated large numbers of Western troops in Arabia. Actually Feisal grew more comfortable with that idea after the Turkish advance on Rabigh, and in December 1916 requested troops from Cyril Wilson (preferably Muslim troops, but white British troops if none were available) He quickly changed his mind, but that was to avoid playing into the hands of Ottoman propagandists. Mack also writes that Lawrence wanted to “diminish” Western influence in the region, which might be true as far as French ambitions were concerned; his views at the time were often more sober than those in his memoir. He also asserts that Lawrence joined the RAF in part to “do penance” for his “betrayal of his Arab followers,” even though Lawrence felt that this problem had been fixed by the settlement that created Trans-Jordan and Iraq.
Still, an intimate, well-rounded biography.
The narrative is accessible and well-written. Mack basically views Lawrence as a boy who never fully grew up. He describes Lawrence’s desire to avoid attention, his guilt, his inner conflicts, and his personal interests. He also covers the effects of Lawrence’s peculiar home life, and his desires to both achieve fame and avoid the public spotlight. He also suggests that Lawrence’s wartime exploits were a way for him to act out the “hero fantasies” he acquired from reading about people like Richard I. Mack mostly avoids the question of Lawrence’s sexual orientation, arguing that he was both ignorant of and disgusted by sex. Mack does not analyze the military exploits of Lawrence or the political impact of what he accomplished, although he does dispute that Lawrence was purely a cynic, an imperialist, or an Arab nationalist, and that he had elements of all these.
The book has some psychobabble and can get a bit slow or dull at times. Mack writes that Lawrence had a strong influence on both the war in the Middle East and the postwar situation. This seems like a bit much; Lawrence did encourage the hopes and dreams of Arab nationalists, but was he really that successful? The narrative also feels a bit patronizing at times, like when Mack feels the need to provide definitions for things like “trauma.” The maps also seem to have some errors and typos.
Some claims Mack makes are questionable. He takes at face value Lawrence’s claim that the Arabs would not have tolerated large numbers of Western troops in Arabia. Actually Feisal grew more comfortable with that idea after the Turkish advance on Rabigh, and in December 1916 requested troops from Cyril Wilson (preferably Muslim troops, but white British troops if none were available) He quickly changed his mind, but that was to avoid playing into the hands of Ottoman propagandists. Mack also writes that Lawrence wanted to “diminish” Western influence in the region, which might be true as far as French ambitions were concerned; his views at the time were often more sober than those in his memoir. He also asserts that Lawrence joined the RAF in part to “do penance” for his “betrayal of his Arab followers,” even though Lawrence felt that this problem had been fixed by the settlement that created Trans-Jordan and Iraq.
Still, an intimate, well-rounded biography.
February 9, 2010
In my opinion, the best biography of T.E. Lawrence. Highly recommended for anyone looking to learn more about this intriguing historical figure.
April 24, 2015
An altogether excellent book. Prof. Mack explains and analyzes Lawrence's life in a fresh and interesting way. It is ultimately a very sad story. Lawrence was ashamed of being born out of wedlock and dealt with that shame his entire life. Finally, he could only deal with it by undergoing intense self-punishment that is described in the book. Prof. Mack writes in a very clear, illuminating style and is, I think, very sympathetic to his subject while maintaining the objectivity he needs to analyze Lawrence honestly. I read this book a long, long time ago but look forward to reading it again some day.
July 30, 2010
I was afraid this was going to be too heavily psychological, but it wasn;t. For me the most interesting part (in view of our recent involvement therre) is the part on Lawerence's post-war involvement in setting uip Iraq, which he said he wanted to be "our first brown commonwealth" instead of "our last brown colony." I think there is no doubt he seriously wanted Iraq to be a successful essentially independent state, though whether installing his ally King Feisal in a country to which Feisal had no real ties was a good way to achieve it is doubtful.
June 3, 2011
I'm not finished yet, but even just having gotten up to the beginning of WWI, it's a fascinating read. Professor Ajami gave free copies to his 8 AM Thursday class, so you know it has to be good. In retrospect, it's rather a miracle that Lawrence never got murdered by bandits during his early Levantine journeys.
April 24, 2015
An excellent read with insight that reveals not only Lawrence's triumphant heroism and achievements, but also explores his deeply conflicted mind. In the end one finds even more to admire Lawrence for.
October 23, 2008
one of the best books on lawrence. and i've read a lot both by and about lawrence.
November 29, 2024
One of the longest books that I've ever completed, and this book may also be one of the books that I will re-read the most in the future.
I was introduced to this book by a friend's sister after watching the Lawrence of Arabia movie for the first time. I had heard of T. E. Lawrence before, but I only knew a paragraph's worth of knowledge about him before this book. One hundred pages of notes later and I can safely say that I know at least a page's worth of knowledge on him now.
I was introduced to this book by a friend's sister after watching the Lawrence of Arabia movie for the first time. I had heard of T. E. Lawrence before, but I only knew a paragraph's worth of knowledge about him before this book. One hundred pages of notes later and I can safely say that I know at least a page's worth of knowledge on him now.
October 9, 2014
Wow! Lawrence was a brilliant man but so psychologically damaged. The author, a psychiatrist, basically conducts an exhaustive psychological autopsy in this Pulitzer prize winning biography. There's a bit too much of a Freudian slant for my liking and it can get bogged down, but if you are familiar with Lawrence's bio you can breeze through some parts. I actually read the last section first (to get to the good stuff - the analysis) and am now going back through the biographical section.
July 27, 2016
This book was well researched and I especially liked that Dr. Mack was able to talk to so many of TE's friends from his childhood to his death. I have read many books about TE but learned lots of new information from this book. I liked the clinical analysis at the back and throughout the book. It is well worth the read for anyone interested in T. E. Lawrence, his life and the time in which he lived.
July 26, 2016
Pulitzer. Recommended. And I still can't get into this brick. It's so slow. It approaches Lawrence from a psychological perspective which somehow makes it even more dull for me. More speculative. I've got way too much I wanna read to waste time on something that's not grabbing my interest.
December 31, 2008
Read over holiday break 2007-08, terrific biography of T. E. Lawrence.
Currently reading
April 14, 2009What is the power of great men on events? Do great men make events (and thus can we blame and praise them as the media does) or do events limit and shape the responses and actions of men? And then, how much of what "makes" a great man (or woman) is actually a response to childhood and maturation problems that they are adjusting to? There has long been a strain of thought in heroism studies that feels that heroes are in fact flawed and this book fits that strain. A LOT to think about here.
Read
August 4, 2011Excellent. T.E. Lawrence and Sir Richard Burton are two of my favorite warrior/scholars. Deep thinkers, brilliant men who are also men of action. I read this quite a few years ago and remember it as one of the better bios of the 6=7 I've read on Lawrence.
November 6, 2021
This is a thoroughly-researched and clearly-written biography of one of the most interesting men of the twentieth century. It may spoil future viewings of the Peter O'Toole movie for some readers, but for me it enhanced them.
August 4, 2016
Not a clear narrative, and not a comprehensive biography, but then it is not intended to be either. Mack's training in psychiatry is evident throughout, particularly in the final two chapters on Lawrence's sexuality and genera personality.
April 7, 2019
A fascinating and insightful approach to analysing an equally fascinating personality. Best read along with a book more heavily focussed on the historical events and deeds, though, as those are not dealt with in as much detail as one might hope here.
February 19, 2017
Perfect companion to 7 Pillars of Wisdom. Probably the best bio on him.
December 11, 2022
My father gave me his first edition hardback copy of Seven Pillars of Wisdom when I was eight, far too young to read that particular book and really understand it. I thought of that while reading this engrossing, excellent biography of T. E. Lawrence, about my father's obsession with Lawrence and his taking the entire family to see the movie Lawrence of Arabia when it came out. Because of my father, I fell under Lawrence's spell as well, and I've returned to him off and on throughout my life. I bought this biography years ago, a bit afraid to read it because of what it might reveal. But this year, I decided it was time. This is probably the richest, most engrossing biography of anyone I've read to date.
Mack begins by being honest about his motivations for writing the biography and his limitations regarding writing a psychological biography of a subject who'd been dead for decades. I appreciated his honesty. He approaches Lawrence with deep compassion and desire to understand, and uses everything he can find to help him -- interviews with still living family members, friends, men he served with both during World War 1 and afterward, and the voluminous printed material held by the British government, letters written by Lawrence, and his papers at Clouds Hill. The Lawrence that emerges in this biography is a highly intelligent man struggling with his life experiences and background and the psychological effects they had on him. He was surprisingly introspective and self-aware. He understood he had problems, but he didn't know what to do about them.
The book begins with his family background and childhood. His father was Irish, landed gentry, who married a stern woman in Ireland and had 4 daughters. They hired a Scottish governess for the girls, and his father left his family in Ireland to live with the governess. His wife would not grant him a divorce, so he and the governess lived together unmarried. They moved to England and at each place they settled, told everyone they were married and their last name was Lawrence. They had five sons -- T.E. was the second son, born in Wales, and grew up in Oxford where the Lawrences eventually put down roots. Born in 1888 into Victorian English society where illegitimacy is a huge blot on one's status, he grew up in a home governed by Christian morals. All five sons eventually learned of their illegitimacy. This was a blow to T.E.'s self-esteem, and confusing considering the values and beliefs his parents espoused were in direct conflict with the reality of their lives. His mother was a stern disciplinarian who dominated his more easy-going father.
Parents are tasked with teaching and guiding their children to prepare them for an independent life. But Sarah Lawrence, apparently as a result of her guilt over her choice to live unmarried with a man, made her sons the vehicles of her redemption. She placed a lot of pressure on all of them to excel and be perfect, but especially on T. E. or Ned. His older brother never managed to break away from his mother, but Ned was too restless to be kept at home. By the time of World War 1, he'd travelled throughout France and the Middle East, had worked on an archeological dig, learned Arabic, and graduated Oxford with honors. He was already eccentric, though, preferring the company of men and not that interested in courting and marriage. He did propose to a childhood friend but she turned him down.
Lawrence's war was in Arabia where he united the Arabs against the Turks. They were successful, but his experiences were to haunt him for the rest of his life, not to mention his fame which he rejected. I'd known about the war and some about his diplomatic experiences after the war, but I hadn't known about what he did after 1921. In response to the "Lawrence of Arabia" mythology and what he considered to be notoriety, he enlisted in the RAF under the assumed name of John Hume Ross, an alias he would use off and on the rest of his life. He wanted to be an ordinary man. His military service in the ranks provided him with what he needed to survive, to write, to wrestle with his demons. What astonished me was how aware he was about those demons. He just didn't know how to purge them.
Mack pulls it all together in two chapters at the end of this compassionate and humane biography. The first chapter deals with Lawrence's issues with sex, intimacy, and relationships, taking into consideration his family background, Victorian society and culture, as well as the sexual assault and beating he experienced at the hands of Turkish soldiers. The second chapter is a general conclusion, considering Lawrence's strengths, his position in the UK and Middle East, as well as his impact on us today.
I highly recommend this biography for anyone interested in Lawrence, the real Lawrence, and as an example of a successful psychological approach to a biography. Next year, perhaps it'll be time to finally read Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
Mack begins by being honest about his motivations for writing the biography and his limitations regarding writing a psychological biography of a subject who'd been dead for decades. I appreciated his honesty. He approaches Lawrence with deep compassion and desire to understand, and uses everything he can find to help him -- interviews with still living family members, friends, men he served with both during World War 1 and afterward, and the voluminous printed material held by the British government, letters written by Lawrence, and his papers at Clouds Hill. The Lawrence that emerges in this biography is a highly intelligent man struggling with his life experiences and background and the psychological effects they had on him. He was surprisingly introspective and self-aware. He understood he had problems, but he didn't know what to do about them.
The book begins with his family background and childhood. His father was Irish, landed gentry, who married a stern woman in Ireland and had 4 daughters. They hired a Scottish governess for the girls, and his father left his family in Ireland to live with the governess. His wife would not grant him a divorce, so he and the governess lived together unmarried. They moved to England and at each place they settled, told everyone they were married and their last name was Lawrence. They had five sons -- T.E. was the second son, born in Wales, and grew up in Oxford where the Lawrences eventually put down roots. Born in 1888 into Victorian English society where illegitimacy is a huge blot on one's status, he grew up in a home governed by Christian morals. All five sons eventually learned of their illegitimacy. This was a blow to T.E.'s self-esteem, and confusing considering the values and beliefs his parents espoused were in direct conflict with the reality of their lives. His mother was a stern disciplinarian who dominated his more easy-going father.
Parents are tasked with teaching and guiding their children to prepare them for an independent life. But Sarah Lawrence, apparently as a result of her guilt over her choice to live unmarried with a man, made her sons the vehicles of her redemption. She placed a lot of pressure on all of them to excel and be perfect, but especially on T. E. or Ned. His older brother never managed to break away from his mother, but Ned was too restless to be kept at home. By the time of World War 1, he'd travelled throughout France and the Middle East, had worked on an archeological dig, learned Arabic, and graduated Oxford with honors. He was already eccentric, though, preferring the company of men and not that interested in courting and marriage. He did propose to a childhood friend but she turned him down.
Lawrence's war was in Arabia where he united the Arabs against the Turks. They were successful, but his experiences were to haunt him for the rest of his life, not to mention his fame which he rejected. I'd known about the war and some about his diplomatic experiences after the war, but I hadn't known about what he did after 1921. In response to the "Lawrence of Arabia" mythology and what he considered to be notoriety, he enlisted in the RAF under the assumed name of John Hume Ross, an alias he would use off and on the rest of his life. He wanted to be an ordinary man. His military service in the ranks provided him with what he needed to survive, to write, to wrestle with his demons. What astonished me was how aware he was about those demons. He just didn't know how to purge them.
Mack pulls it all together in two chapters at the end of this compassionate and humane biography. The first chapter deals with Lawrence's issues with sex, intimacy, and relationships, taking into consideration his family background, Victorian society and culture, as well as the sexual assault and beating he experienced at the hands of Turkish soldiers. The second chapter is a general conclusion, considering Lawrence's strengths, his position in the UK and Middle East, as well as his impact on us today.
I highly recommend this biography for anyone interested in Lawrence, the real Lawrence, and as an example of a successful psychological approach to a biography. Next year, perhaps it'll be time to finally read Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
July 27, 2025
I do not, as a general rule, tend to find biographies of historical figures to be "good history." More often than not, they over-emphasize the importance of individuals, biasedly moralize, and brush past historical context in favor of telling a singular narrative. In all these matters, A Prince Of Our Disorder is no exception. That said, as someone who picked up this book primarily because of the character study painted in Lawrence of Arabia, I went in expecting this sort of thing, and (for better or for worse), that is what I got.
John E. Mack is primarily a psychologist, not a historian, and thus the main kind of analysis this book offers. The sections on the Arab Revolt and Lawrence's later political career—the only two sections of real "historical import"—make up a minority of the book, and historical details are mostly brushed past in order to analyze the events that most impacted Lawrence psychologically. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. There are many other books out there that will tell you the objective, impersonal facts of the Arab Revolt or post-WWI British policy in the Middle East, and those books are not what this book is trying to be. Mack's psychological study is compelling, highly readable, and paired with a large amount of first-hand sources (even if, despite this, Mack tends to indulge in conjecture). That said, the highly personal focus of this book does make it quite difficult to place Lawrence within the context of the other events going on around him and judge how much individual responsibility he really had for the way things went. Mack clearly sees him as a genius and a Great Man. I'm not quite sure if I've been convinced. That said, attempting to successfully argue that point would have necessitated a much longer book, and this was quite hefty as-is.
Overall, if you're interested in an in-depth psychoanalysis of one of the biggest Freaks of the early 20th century, this book has a lot to offer, just read it with a grain of salt. This has certainly provided me with an excellent backdrop with which I will (eventually) read Seven Pillars Of Wisdom.
John E. Mack is primarily a psychologist, not a historian, and thus the main kind of analysis this book offers. The sections on the Arab Revolt and Lawrence's later political career—the only two sections of real "historical import"—make up a minority of the book, and historical details are mostly brushed past in order to analyze the events that most impacted Lawrence psychologically. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. There are many other books out there that will tell you the objective, impersonal facts of the Arab Revolt or post-WWI British policy in the Middle East, and those books are not what this book is trying to be. Mack's psychological study is compelling, highly readable, and paired with a large amount of first-hand sources (even if, despite this, Mack tends to indulge in conjecture). That said, the highly personal focus of this book does make it quite difficult to place Lawrence within the context of the other events going on around him and judge how much individual responsibility he really had for the way things went. Mack clearly sees him as a genius and a Great Man. I'm not quite sure if I've been convinced. That said, attempting to successfully argue that point would have necessitated a much longer book, and this was quite hefty as-is.
Overall, if you're interested in an in-depth psychoanalysis of one of the biggest Freaks of the early 20th century, this book has a lot to offer, just read it with a grain of salt. This has certainly provided me with an excellent backdrop with which I will (eventually) read Seven Pillars Of Wisdom.
December 9, 2023
There was a young lady in Istanbul, who escorted me through her library school, when we came upon this book she said "Lawrence, what a crook!" I paused to agree in the murk, for one does not dispute with a Turk.
Remember that scene in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA when the Turkish officer played by Jose Ferrer gazes upon the nubile body of T.E. Lawrence and yells at his soldiers "Beat him!". He might very well have been speaking for Lawrence biographer John Mack. Released when psychohistory was all the rage, from Erik Erikson (YOUNG MAN LUTHER) to Robert Tucker (STALIN AS REVOLUTIONARY) A PRINCE OF OUR DISORDER plumbs the mind of Lawrence to discover the roots of his actions in war and peace. His illegitimate birth, making him an outsider to the British ruling class, Lawrence's homosexuality, and his pleasure in pain, made him not only a war hero, however dubious, but also, for Mack, a symbol of the erasure between hero and anti-hero in the twentieth century. His demons produced his angels if that is the right word for his exploits in the desert. The horrible guilt Lawrence felt at having, wittingly or not, betrayed the Arabs whose cause he championed and led was the measure of a great man at war with himself. Mack is provocative if not always convincing.
Remember that scene in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA when the Turkish officer played by Jose Ferrer gazes upon the nubile body of T.E. Lawrence and yells at his soldiers "Beat him!". He might very well have been speaking for Lawrence biographer John Mack. Released when psychohistory was all the rage, from Erik Erikson (YOUNG MAN LUTHER) to Robert Tucker (STALIN AS REVOLUTIONARY) A PRINCE OF OUR DISORDER plumbs the mind of Lawrence to discover the roots of his actions in war and peace. His illegitimate birth, making him an outsider to the British ruling class, Lawrence's homosexuality, and his pleasure in pain, made him not only a war hero, however dubious, but also, for Mack, a symbol of the erasure between hero and anti-hero in the twentieth century. His demons produced his angels if that is the right word for his exploits in the desert. The horrible guilt Lawrence felt at having, wittingly or not, betrayed the Arabs whose cause he championed and led was the measure of a great man at war with himself. Mack is provocative if not always convincing.
September 17, 2025
This is long and dull. Not really worth the candle. If you're a freak for lawrence, sure. But I only read about 2/3, and it was just more than enough. Meh.
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