The Mint: Lawrence After Arabia, Paperback

In 1922, his dreams of an independent Arabia shattered, T.E. Lawrence enlisted in the RAF under the assumed name John Hume Ross. Though methodical and restrictive, life there seemed to suit Lawrence: "The Air Force is not a man-crushing humiliating slavery, all its days. There is sun & decent treatment, and a very real measure of happiness, to those who do not look forward or back." With poetic clarity, Lawrence brings to life the harsh realities of barracks life and illuminates the strange twilight world he had slipped into after his war experiences. For anyone interested in the life of one of the 20th century's most enduring heroes and his life beyond the well-documented Arab revolt, The Mint is essential and compelling reading.

Thomas Edward Lawrence was born in 1888. Educated at Oxford, he was later made a research fellow of All Souls College. During the First World War he was attached to the Hejaz Expeditionary Force and later transferred to General Allenby s staff. In 1921 he became Advisor on Arab Affairs in the Colonial Office. In 1927, uncomfortable with his 'Lawrence of Arabia' legend, Lawrence joined the RAF. He was killed in a motobike accident in 1935 at the age of 47. Author of the classic Seven Pillars of Wisdom and its abridged version, Revolt in the Desert (Tauris Parke Paperbacks), Lawrence also wrote a prose translation of Homer s Odyssey.