Join host David Hartmann and fellow Columbia alumni as the book club discusses his selection Lawrence and the Arabs by Robert Graves. First published in 1927, Robert Graves’s biography remains a unique study of T. E. Lawrence. Beginning his life-long affair with the Middle East, T. E. Lawrence—Lawrence of Arabia—made his first journey to the region, a four-month walking tour of Syria studying the Crusaders’ castles, while still a student at Oxford. He later returned to the area as an archeologist and at the outbreak of World War I was attached to British army intelligence in Egypt. Lawrence in 1916 set out on his greatest adventure. With no backing, he joined Arab forces facing almost insurmountable odds in a rebellion against Turkish domination. His brilliance as a desert war strategist made him a hero among the Arabs, a legendary figure throughout the world, and earned him the moniker Lawrence of Arabia.

Date: Thursday, June 20, 2024

Times: 6:30PM Central, 7:30PM Eastern, 4:30PM Pacific (12:30AM in London on May 24

Location: Zoom Video Conference

Cost: Free