With Lawrence in Arabia — Story, Setting & Ideas

The Foreword as a Contract with the Reader

Thomas’s foreword is unusually detailed about the book’s origins. He credits Secretary Lane, Secretary Daniels, and Secretary Baker for enabling his access to Allied armies, and he emphasizes that eighteen private citizens supplied the funds before any government appropriation existed. This transparency about sponsorship is rare in adventure narratives and signals that the author is conscious of his role as a publicist. The foreword also thanks Colonel John Buchan of the Ministry of Information for the permit that got Thomas to Palestine. Readers should note that the book’s perspective is shaped by these institutional ties; Thomas is an embedded observer, not an independent historian. His gratitude to his patrons colors the tone, especially when he later describes Lawrence’s exploits as “the most romantic campaign in modern history.”

Petra: A Set Piece of Descriptive Writing

One of the most vivid excerpts describes the ancient city of Petra. Thomas dwells on the colors of the sandstone cliffs, which he compares to “great rainbows of stone” that shift from white to crimson depending on the hour. He notes the carved staircases, some over a mile long, leading to sacrificial altars and a temple called El Deir. The description is precise: the façade is one hundred and fifty feet high, decorated with Medusa heads and surmounted by a giant urn. Thomas also records a moment when a Bedouin companion bathes in a rain pool on an altar, a detail that blends observation with dry humor. Lawrence himself appears briefly, identifying the site as “the most complete and perfect example in existence of an ancient Semitic high place.” This passage shows Thomas’s strength in landscape and architectural description, though it also reveals his tendency to frame the exotic for a Western audience.

The Author’s Voice and the Role of Photography

Thomas frequently references the photographic record made by himself and Harry A. Chase. The title page credits “original photographs taken by H. A. Chase, F. R. G. S., and by the Author,” and the foreword describes the book as a “pictorial record” of the war. This visual dimension is integral to the narrative: Thomas writes as someone who has seen the places he describes and expects his readers to view the accompanying images. The text often reads like a lecture script, with descriptive passages that seem designed to accompany lantern slides. For instance, the Petra excerpt moves from a wide view of the valley to close-ups of rock colors, then to specific structures, as if guiding an audience’s gaze. Readers should imagine the photographs that originally accompanied these words, as the prose is deliberately visual and episodic.

The Book’s Structure and What the Excerpts Omit

The excerpts provided cover only the foreword and a section on Petra, leaving the bulk of Lawrence’s military campaign unrepresented. From the catalog metadata, the book is over 100,000 words and divided into twelve sections, but the sample does not include any battle scenes, dialogue with Lawrence, or analysis of Arab strategy. This means the reader must approach the text with caution: Thomas’s claim that the book is “the only written fragmentary record of the most romantic campaign in modern history” is a promotional statement, not a historical judgment. The Petra excerpt, while engaging, is a digression from the war narrative. A first-time reader should expect the book to alternate between travelogue, biography, and war reporting, with Thomas’s own role as a witness frequently foregrounded.

Lowell Thomas’s With Lawrence in Arabia is best read as a contemporary document shaped by its origins in wartime propaganda and public lecture tours. The foreword and the Petra description reveal a writer who is both a careful observer and a self-conscious narrator, aware of his patrons and his audience. Readers interested in Lawrence’s own perspective should supplement this account with his Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Thomas’s book offers a valuable external view, but its framing—as a commissioned, illustrated story—is as much a part of the historical record as the events it describes.

There’s something touching about With Lawrence in Arabia’s dedication to financiers—the war’s grand gestures resting on quiet, private patronage. It made me think of another volume, The Irish at the Front — Edition Insights, where the same era’s hopes and sorrows sit side by side, waiting for a reader’s unhurried hour.