Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia

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FromThe first 100 pages of this very lengthy biography of T. E. Lawrence will prove a trial for all readers other than military-history buffs. Once past that rocky start, however, the excessive detail of those interminable early pages becomes the rich substance of a sophisticated, rigorously pursued life-study by a distinguished editor and biographer. Lawrence—famously known as Lawrence of Arabia—has always been regarded as a vital leader, operating within the structure and goals of the British army, of the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire during WWI. In fact, as recalled and emphasized here, Lawrence emerged from the global conflict as the most renowned, and lasting, hero. He was an exceptional individual nearly from birth, with an early-born consciousness of his destiny as a hero. His cultivation of such awareness began during his schoolboy years, and he eventually showed his brilliance in military strategy, diplomacy, and politics. The map of the Middle East looks as it does today due in large part to Lawrence’s nearly single-handed nation building in the area as a leading fighter for Arab independence and, later, at the postwar Paris Peace Conference. The author’s fathoming of his subject’s convoluted sexuality adds not prurience to the picture but a definite human dimension. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Heavy media promotion, including an online publicity campaign targeting history and book blogs, will bring this book to a wide, and widely curious, audience. --Brad Hooper Review“Michael Korda’s new biography of Lawrence of Arabia is big-hearted and provocative—a page-turner that also helps us understand how the Middle East became the confused mess it is today. Hero is a magnificent achievement.” (Nathaniel Philbrick ) “Korda persuasively argues that had Lawrence’s vision for a Mideast peace prevailed after the war...that deeply troubled part of the world might be a far more peaceful, prosperous region than it is today.” (Associated Press ) “Korda’s biography of Lawrence’s life and legend conjure up a pathos and a very human side to the mystique of Lawrence of Arabia.” (New York Journal of Books ) “Few come closer to appraising the man in all his protean grandeur, and essential mystery, than Michael Korda. . . . One of the most compelling books I have read in a long time.” (Sir Alistair Horne, CBE, author of A Savage War of Peace ) “A splendid biography about a most unusual and extraordinary individual.” (Hugh Thomas, author of The Spanish Civil War ) “Much has been written about him, but no one has succeeded in illuminating the quintessential Lawrence of Arabia so profoundly and so well as Michael Korda. Hero is a work of brilliance, discernment and meticulous scholarship that surely will be hailed as the gold standard.” (Henry A. Kissinger ) “Lawrence of Arabia, one of the great heroes of any age, has found the right biographer in Michael Korda--a keen judge of the human condition and a master story teller who can separate myth from reality without diminishing the grandeur of his subject.” (Evan Thomas, author of The War Lovers ) “Hero is a full-scale, major event, [and] a great biography. . . . The triumph of the book is Michael Korda’s brilliant, always balanced portrait of the infinitely fascinating Lawrence of Arabia, the relevance of which, now in our time, is of greater importance than ever.” (David McCullough ) “T.E. Lawrence is next to impossible to fix on the page. Yet Michael Korda has done so, delivering up a crowded, improbable life in a page-turning biography, every bit as rich as its protean subject. A splendid read.” (Stacy Schiff, author of Cleopatra: A Life ) “Michael Korda’s magisterial and beautifully illustrated new book, “Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia,” is a stunningly good biography of one of the most famous, yet least understood heroes of the 20th century.” (Sarasota Herald-Tribune ) “This magisterial biography of British soldier and adventurer T.E. Lawrence celebrates a life spent subverting authority in the most glamorous--and bizarre--ways. Korda’s vivid portrait of Lawrence and his warring impulses captures the brilliance and charisma of this fascinating figure.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review) ) “Korda...has redrawn the map, and reinvented T.E. Lawrence, coming closest to giving this elusive holograph in a white dishdasha a pulse.” (Daily Beast ) “Comprehensive. . . . An accessible, textured story of one man who intimatelyknew the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” (Kirkus Reviews ) “Hero is a portrait of Lawrence in all his complexity that is worth its 700-plus pages.” (BookPage )