Lawrence of Arabia: My Journey in Search of T.E. Lawrence, by Ranulph Fiennes, Pegasus Books, New York, 2024, $32
Over a half century ago as a young, inexperienced British officer commanding a disparate band of Arab soldiers, Sir Ranulph Fiennes aspired to emulate his childhood idol, Thomas Edward Lawrence. “Before my adventures in Oman I already counted him as one of my heroes,” Fiennes writes. “Yet it was only after treading in his footsteps…that I realized the man’s true greatness. His example always inspired me in life-and-death situations.” It has also inspired the author to pen an insightful and highly readable biography of the man known popularly as Lawrence of Arabia.
Soldier, writer, poet, adventurer and raconteur, Fiennes is a remarkable man in his own right. Among his other accomplishments, he is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “world’s greatest living explorer” (he summited Mt. Everest at age 65 and was the first to reach both poles by land) and is the author of some two dozen fiction and nonfiction books.
A natural
