5 comments about Wreaking Havoc: A Year in an A-20 (Texas a & M University Military History Series, 91.).

1. The author has given us the shallowest of memoirs on his experiences as an Army Air Force pilot in the SW Pacific flying A-20G Havocs during the period July 1944-April 1945. There are lots of details about the aircraft but no sense of the man, his inner life or the emotional and physical price he paid in combat.
   Fifty-plus years on Rutter is as puzzled as he was in April 1945 when Doc Walsh, the group's doctor, grounded him and suggested that he request a transfer out of combat.
   The author seems incapable of the self-analysis, the self-awareness, that bring such depth and timeliness to works such as E.B. Sledge's "With the Old Breed" or Paul Fassell's "The Boys' Crusade".



2. My Dad flew in A-20's in 1942 and 1943 in the SWPA. He loved them. Unfortunately he did not write about his experiences. John Rutter's excellent book describes candidly and in detail what my Dad saw. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.



3. Wreaking Havoc is an outstanding book well worth the money. The author was in the 312th Bomb Group from Hollandia, New Guinea and later he flew with the 389th Squadron, until the end of the Philippines Campaign and the Formosa Campaign. This year of battle left the author with many interesting comments and views of the war. He has included a number of excellent black and white photographs. As a pilot he does explain some technical things about the Douglas A-20 Havoc. He explains these things in a very easy to understand fashion for the non-pilots among us. He correlates his story with several clear and easy to read maps. After I turned fifty years old, maps became harder to read and these maps are clear and easy to read! He also speaks of his neighbor Bomb Group the 3rd Attack Group as they call it. He has excellent insight in military matters. The author says he has attended many reunions since 1948 and has drawn not only on his own recollections but also on the recollections of his fellow pilots and offical records. He does such an excellent job that I would like to see another volume come out in the future. This book is for the most part a people book. These are real people and he explains how they deal with war from day to day. While this does have some explanations of battles he was in, this is not the focus of the book. If you want to learn the history of the Army Air Corps battles in the Pacific War you should look to another book. This book is about men, their flying machines, and war. In this context it is a very well written book that was not only fun to read but also very informative. If I was given the opportunity to turn back time and buy this book again I would buy it without question!



4. This book only helped me understand a little more about the A-20 from a purely technical viewpoint. There was very little combat to speak of until one big mission over the Phillipines in 1944. I was expecting some more barge hunting, attacks on sea convoys and such.
   
   I've already read enough books on the Pacific war from a variety of campaigns to know about life during the island hopping campaigns and such. So, this book came as quite a disappointment.
   
   Not badly written, but not really a lot to sink one's teeth into.



5. "Wreaking Havoc" by Joseph W. Rutter, Sub-titled, "a Year In An A-20". Texas A& M University Press, 2004.

   For many of us who were young boys during World War II, or directly after, the most famous aircraft were the big bombers: the B17 "Flying Fortress", the B24 "Liberator" and the B29 "Superfortress". The relatively small A20 "Havoc" was hardly mentioned.

   This book corrects that ommission. Joseph Rutter flew the A20 "Havoc" in some 64 combat missions in the A20 in the Pacific Theatre. The author lists all 64 missions on pages xv through xxi in the preface to the his book , which is quite a personal memoir of his war. The book actually starts with his father getting the author out of bed "...at 6 A.M. on Sunday, September 3, 1939 to listen to Great Britain's declaration of war on Germany..." Page 8. The author then tells of growing up, graduating high school, going to work for the FBI, and then leaving for flight school. He learned to fly both the B25 "Mitchell" and the A20 "Havoc", but it is apparent, in my humble opinion, that Mr. Rutter really loved the A20 the best.

   The book presents many details about the A20, with pictures scattered appropriately throughout the book. On page 105, the photo shows a pilot, Maury Owen, seated in an A20 cockpit. It is a tight fit. A big person, (say, the actor John Wayne, for easy identification), could never fit in the standard A20 cockpit. Rutter gives many somewhat technical details about flying the A20, including setting the manifold pressure to prevent backfiring of the engines, how to lean the gas mixture to fly the maximum distance and the proper method of firing the guns to prevent jams, and all of this material makes you understand in small fashion what it was like to live and fly in the Pacific War. Since the author was able to develop many of the pictures he snapped , he was able to bring the photos home with him. Therefore, the book is nicely illustrated with contemporary photos , including, for example, the village church at Dagupan, Luzon, the Philippines. (Page 184).

   If you want a complete story of what it was like, flying and fighting in the Pacific Theater in World War II, this book is an excellent choice.

4 comments about Robert E. Lee: Icon for a Nation.

1. General Lee was a trator to this country and his training, and he would have replaced the Black-American slaves with the Irish serfs of Europe, according to Elizabeth B. Pryor, in her study of Lee, in Reading The Man. Please only recommend historal facts to me, and not some idealized opinion. Lee was a West Point trained soldier, and he selected personal comfort and convience over duty. Am I to believe that Ms. Pryor is incorrect?



2. the author is a good writer, entertaining with an obvious wealth of knowledge of the subject. I couldn't imagine how the author could get a picture of Lee into that small book when it took Freeman four volumes, but it was well worth the purchase, I would highly recommend it.



3. It is easy to overlook the many contributions that non-Americans have made to the study of the American Civil War. Brian Holden Reid's outstanding study "Robert E. Lee: Icon for a Nation" brings an informed, fresh and balanced perspective to bear upon the Confederacy's greatest general. Reid is Professor of American History and Military Institutions and Head of the Department of War Studies at Kings College, London. He has taught military strategy and tactics and written extensively about America's Civil War.
   
   Any new study of Lee must work on two levels. First, of course, it must examine Lee himself, his life, his career, and his generalship. Second, any study must come to terms with the extensive writing and radically shifting perspectives about Lee over the years. Following the Civil War, Lee quickly became an icon to Southern partisans in the "Lost Cause" tradition. His character and success, for a time, against long military odds soon elevated Lee into a figure respected and revered by many Americans, north and south. Then, in mid-20th Century a reaction set in against Lee, questioning some of the mythology that had grown around him and challenging his agressive conduct of the War, his focus on the Eastern theater, his alleged lack of broad strategic vision, and the high casualty rate to which he subjected the Army of Northern Virginia, among other things. The reasons underlying the reassessment were complex. They included correcting an overly iconic and uncritical account, the changing perspective with which Americans viewed the Civil War, and a general and, I think, unhappy tendency to debunk and to criticise important historical figures.
   
   In clear, elegant prose, Reid examines Lee and Lee historiography. Although Reid avoids hero worship, he clearly admires greatly Robert E. Lee as a person and as a general. He finds that much, but not all, of the traditional picture of Lee has merit: he was an imaginative, agressive, savvy, and gifted commander who, importantly, inspired the love and the trust of his men. He fought and won many battles against long odds and prolonged the life of the Confederacy, giving it its best chance to achieve independence. Reid is far from uncritical as he points to flaws in, among other things, the command structure of Lee's army, the commander's frequent over-confidence, his tendency to overdelegate to subordinates, his conduct of the Battle of Gettysburg, and the failure to make the most of his opportunites in battles such as Seven Days, Second Manassas, Fredricksburg, and Chancellorsville. For all these faults, Lee emerges in this study as a remarkable, charismatic commander whom Reid believes is properly regarded as one of the greatest in history.
   
   The book opens with a chapter on Lee the icon with a summary of how historians of the "Lost Cause" school have viewed him, under the influence of the writings of Confederate General Jubal Early. The book then discusses Lee's pre-Civil War career, focusing on his service in Mexico, but gathers force in its consideration of Lee's three-year career as the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee's assumption of command in June, 1862, and the battles for which he is famous -- Seven Days, Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness Campaign, Petersburg, and Appatomatox, are discussed clearly and with sufficient detail. Reid keeps his and the reader's focus on the main themes of his study: showing Lee's greatness as a leader but his shortcomings as well.
   
   In common with most books about Lee, his military exploits are discussed in detail but we see little of his inmost thoughts and feelings. Lee was a highly reserved individual. I would have also liked more emphasis on Lee's pre-Civil War career and, particularly, a fuller discussion of Lee's life and career as President of Washington University following the Civil War. The book includes some basic maps of the key theatres of Lee's operations -- placed at the beginning of the book to avoid cluttering the text -- a good, basic bibliography, and no footnotes.
   
   Reid has written an excellent study of a great commander which argues convincingly that Lee deserves most of the esteem that he has traditionally received. This book will appeal to serious students of the Civil War.
   
   Robin Friedman



4. At the end of the American Civil War Robert E. Lee had only five years to live. The heart problems that caused him to spend the battle of the North Anna River in an ambulance killed him. ==In the years following his reputation as a battlefield leader was heavily promoted by writers lamenting the lost cause of Southern independence. These included not only Southerners but Northernors as well.
   
   In this book Brian Holden Reid, Professor of American History at King's College London, writes from the vantage point of a disinterested outsider to argue that Lee was one of the great commanders of all time. He does not claim that Lee didn't have faults. Everyone does, but that the overall generalship of General Lee ranks him among the best.
   
   The American Civil War took place at a transition point in military affairs. The war before (Mexico, 1843) and the war that followed (World War I). The author contends that Lee was among the first of the modern generals. If the armies had listened to him during World War I, it probably wouldn't have turned into the mess that it was.

5 comments about America's Fighting Admirals: Winning the War at Sea in World War II.

1. Tuohy's "America's Fighting Admirals" follows his earlier "The Bravest Man: Richard O'Kane and the Amazing Submarine Adventures of the USS Tang". Tuohy's new book is easily one of the most readable, comprehensive and well-researched books I have seen about America's top naval leaders, their adversaries and the war at sea in World War II. His fast-paced and wide-ranging account concisely examines and summarizes key actions and players at war in the vast expanses of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea.
   
   Tuohy analyzes the strategy, detailed planning and execution of the war's major campaigns by America's fighting admirals and provides brief, but concise overviews of each major battle from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo and North Africa to Normandy.
   
   The roles of great personalities such as King, Nimitz, Halsey, Spruance, Fletcher, Mitscher, Turner and Kinkaid are well covered, but Tuohy provides new details on lesser-known flag officers such as Jack Towers, "Slew" McCain, "Ching" Lee, "31-knot" Burke, "Uncle Dan" Barbey, "Tip" Merrill, "Pug" Ainsworth, "Close-in" Conolly and many others. Tuohy's battle coverage includes the Fighting Admirals' counterpart foes in the Imperial Japanese Navy such as admirals Yamamoto, Nagumo, Ozawa, Kurita, Nishimura, "tenacious" Tanaka and others.
   
   This well-organized 400-page book contains an introduction, 31 chapters, an epilogue, brief biographical highlights of 54 admirals, plus Marine LtGen Holland M. "Howlin" Mad" Smith and Army Gen Douglas MacArthur, a list of sources, chapter notes, maps, 14 pages of flag officers' photographs and unit, vessel and general indices.
   
   I highly recommend this book. For the historian, it provides a fresh look at well-documented events and personalities. For the layman, it provides a sweeping picture of the greatest naval leaders of the greatest fleet fighting the greatest naval war in history. It supplements earlier works such as Pfannes and Salamone's The Great Admirals of World War II: The Americans, Boyne's Clash of Titans and Howarth's Men At War. I thoroughly enjoyed Tuohy's excellent book and give it five stars.



2. As a retired Naval Officer and student of Naval history, I found this book filled in many of the "holes" I had in my knowledge of WWII. The very striking parallels between those Admirals who actually WON the war, because they were warriors, and those who observed because they were bureaucrats and the current state of today's leadership is simply stunning. A must for those who want to understand how things worked and what must be done to succeed then and NOW.



3. I'm not convinced as some others that this is a great book. I was expecting something more thorough that looked into the personalities and leadership styles of the great US admirals of World War II. What I discovered was another book laying out the history of World War II at Sea. And this one is not very detailed. This could have been better organized. I would have organized it by having a chapter on each key fighting admiral of World War II starting with the ones who were famous at the beginning and leading to the end. That way, it would have focused more on the admirals and not be just another history of World War II at Sea.



4. The American naval actions of the second world war were some of the most dramatic in the history of sea warfare, taking place over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans alike with an admiral overseeing each action and battle. The battles are here described from the perspective of American admirals who fought them and comes from a World War II navy veteran who not only covers all major campaigns and admiral leaders, but analyzes strategy and decision-making challenges during battle. Serious World War II military collections, particularly those with strong naval history sections, need AMERICA'S FIGHTING ADMIRALS: WINNING THE WAR AT SEA IN WORLD WAR II.



5. "America's Fighting Admirals" is a history of the United States and its fighting admirals in World War II.
   
   Pulitzer Prize winner author William Tuohy discusses more than fifty US Navy admirals and how they won the war at sea.
   
   This brilliantly written work is a compelling read and is full of new insights on the American Navy and its opponents in World War II. Particularly interesting were the sections on the Japanese Imperial Navy's Long Lance torpedo and Japan's Kamikazes, which haunted the Americans until the closing days of the war.
   
   This book is recommended for anyone interested in combat leadership, the United States Navy, and naval warfare in World War II.

2 comments about Red Tail Captured, Red Tail Free: Memoirs of a Tuskegee Airman and POW.

1. Col. Jefferson has written an excellent personal memoir that is a unique addition to the literature of those who fought and served America so well in World War II and after. I bought the book after hearing the author speak (to a standing ovation) and was pleased to get the additional well written and presented detail of his experiences. His numerous drawings of the places he served, especially the POW camp, helped transport the reader to a better understanding than from merely a written description.



2. Among the many groups to whom we owe more than we can ever repay there is the Tuskegee Airmen. Determined to become Army Air Crop pilots and to fight for America, these men enlisted in the army. In spite of the determination of some to make them fail, they didn't. In spite of a 'quota' as to how many would be allowed to graduate (not discovered until many years later) some 900 made it through the system. Most became fighter pilots, after all if they flew bombers they might have had white crewmen under them and in those days that just wouldn't do.
   
   Lt. Jefferson made it through. And eventually he flew with the famous 332nd, the Red Tails. Most of the missions of the 332nd were to escort bombers. NO Bombers were ever lost to Enemy Aircraft while being escorted by the 332nd.
   
   On his 19th mission Lt. Jefferson was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. He spent the next nine months in a German POW camp. When finally returned to the United States after being liberated he walked off the ship to be told, "Whites to the right, niggers to the left."
   
   Thank you Alexander Jefferson for all that you did, including writing this book.

5 comments about Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs: The Unknown Story of the Men and Women of World War II's OSS.

1. I was very satisified with the condition of the book when I got it and how quickly I received it.



2. It is a very valuable piece of historic mosaic.
   
   E.g. one of many fascinating parts is how blatant were Soviet spies in the State Department when they torpedoed any effort by OSS to obtain intelligence on the Soviet Union.
   
   However, the presentation is too dry and too fragmented in my view.



3. This book was not only entertaining it was also informative. The book discusses an area of WWII that has not been fully covered. The descriptive stories and tales almost make you feel you were there.



4. Where are they now?
   
   Where are people like 'Wild Bill' Donovan, Corporal Drake, Elizabeth Pack, Moe Berg today? We need them in the 'War on Terror.' Instead we have the 'Keystone Cops.' Today we spy on Americans, perhaps because don't have enough intelligence agents who speak Arabic.
   
   In early August, 2001 - a month before Sept. 11, the Keystone Cops of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. were offered intelligence that Osama bin Laden and Al Queda were planning `something.' They turned a blind eye and deaf ear. After Sept 11 they said "Figure out how Saddam did this."
   
   This book is criticized by other reviewers for offering the facts but little context and less analysis. However, you could also say that it provides the facts, as remembered by the men and women of the OSS, and invites us to draw our own conclusions.
   
   There are between the lines criticisms.
   
   "OSS's first African American operator, a Corporal Drake.... Drake's membership in the OSS was purely happenstance since OSS, like the rest of America's armed forces, had not been integrated."
   
   "Only 143 Americans died in the line of duty.... However, hundreds of foreigners were killed while working for the OSS."
   
   And a singularly subtle reminder of who we fought.
   
   "German intelligence dismissed the group as `a perfect picture of the mixture of races and characters in that savage conglomeration called the United States.'"
   
   O'Donnell's book is a good read for a plane, beach, or weekend. The anecdotal style makes it easy to put down. The pace and content make you pick it up again and again to read thru and review.



5. This book has a wealth of information. With so much, the author managed to organize everything in a sensible manner. The information builds on previous chapters. It can be hard to remember, but the author does manage to add some reminders.

1 comments about Our Jungle Road to Tokyo (Battery Classics Series).

1. As the son of a sergeant that served from Fiji, Bougainville, Leyte, Cebu, etc, thru Japan, I was very happy to read the General's account.

   I found myself riveted to the book, trying to understand my father's footsteps. The General lays out much on strategy and location; that helped a lot. I now find myself wanting to know more about what it was like for the regular GIs, the infantrymen.

1 comments about To Benning & Back: Volume I: The Making Of A Citizen Soldier - My Journals of Daily Life in US Army Basic Training and Officer Candidate School (2nd Edition).

1. Monroe Mann's "To Benning and Back: The Making of a Citizen Soldier" is an honest portrait of the United States Army's Basic Training at Fort Benning and the New York Army National Guard's Officer Candidate School at Camp Smith. Military literary sketches are often crowded with heroic jargon and feats of super hero performances, whereas, LT Mann's story tells of the heartache and uncertainty a soldier feels while undergoing some of the toughest training in the military. He holds nothing back. Not even the heroic jargon and super hero feats. This is Monroe's honest story of his ups and downs, his highs and lows, his good decisions and his bad. "To Benning and Back..." should be required reading for anyone considering the Army National Guard's Officer Candidate School.
   
   Hooah,
   
   Rudy

1 comments about Diary and Correspondence of Count Axel Fersen, Grand-Marshal of Sweden Relating to the Court of France.

1. How lovely it is to have a book that gives so much
   insight into the person themselves! We find much out
   about the man himself (Count Fersen) from reading his
   own thoughts written in letters to his father and others
   and from their letters to him. This book is definitely
   well worth the read and to have as a resource on the
   happenings during the French and American Revolution.
   
   If I had it to do all over again, I would buy the
   hard cover edition though. My front and back cover
   to the book, while in excellent condition when first
   received, began to curl back as soon as it hit the
   moist, humid, subtropical air here in Florida. I've
   never had a book do that quite so quickly before.

5 comments about LINCOLN'S MEN: How President Lincoln Became Father to an Army and a Nation.

1. At times this book is absolutely brilliant, and at others absolutely wordy. Davis does make several very keen observations and supports these very well from the countless diary quotes from Union Soldiers. Overall, it is a good study of President Lincoln as Commander in Chief, and even Lincoln as a statesman. The book does mostly focus on Lincoln and the Army of the Potomac, but, as Davis contends, that is by far the army that needed his direct support the most. Davis handles Lincoln's relationships with the Sanitary Comission and other civilian organized groups supporting the war effort extremely well. In the end, I would recommend this book as a good and unique study of President Lincoln.



2. If you have never read much about Lincoln, you will enjoy this book. If you are a fan of President Lincoln, you will find this work among the best ever written.William C. Davis presents to us the 'best friend' a soldier ever knew. He enters into the life of Lincoln and especially his relationship with the common Civil War soldier. As each chapter begins with a verse from the Bible about Abraham, you will almost feel a sense of divinity that was felt by many about Lincoln. He was a Commander in Chief that we could only dream about in today's world; a man that loved his soldiers and had a following that would go anywhere and do anything because 'Father Abraham' asked him to.



3. A very interesting and insightful look at Lincoln and his army - the Army of the Potomac which was the only army he had any real relationship with and the only army he ever visited. The book revealed how Lincoln culivated his relationship with this army and how his own personal interest allowed him to make his mark on it. While considered as a hard luck army thanks to its lousy commanding generals, the men of the army and its commander in chief never lost faith and that common bond kept things together in the east while the war was won in the west. One of the more interesting books on the Civil War, it explored the aspects of relationship between Lincoln and his Army of the Potomac.



4. Given the mountain of books about either Abraham Lincoln or the American Civil War, one would think that someone would have come up with the idea of exploring the relationship between Lincoln and the rank-and-file Union soldier. But Davis is apparently the first to do so, and he handles the topic in a way that is bound to delight anyone interested in either topic, from the novice to the expert.

   He has obviously thoroughly researched the wealth of letters, diaries, and other orginal sources that are available; his points are well documented. Moreover, he avoids repeating himself by either using the same source over and over again (as Ken Burns did in the Civil War series and Bruce Catton tended to do in his otherwise fascinating histories), nor does he pile up so much evidence on a single point that the reader becomes bored.

   He explores the Lincoln-enlisted man relationship from a variety of angles, ranging from Lincoln's dismissal of the highly popular McClellan to his liberal use of his pardoning prerogative for wayward soldiers to veterans' attitudes in the 1864 Presidential election to his assassination. He frames much of the book in terms of Parson Weems's classic biography of George Washington, which depicted GW as "the Father of His Country," and suggests that the book had an early, perhaps subconscious effect on Lincoln, giving him a model to adopt when he became President--and makes a plausible case.

   He also demonstrates that Lincoln very consciously invested in promoting a positive image of himself with the Union rank and file. Lincoln was very aware of how his position as President affected everyday Americans, and became (according to Davis) the first President to make an effort to be seen by ordinary citizens, especially Union soldiers.

   This is a well-written, enjoyable book, satisfying in every sense. It was truly hard to put down.




5. This book is an excellent example of how one man was willing to take on the weight of the world to preserve a nation and take care of it's people. The world could use more "Abe Lincolns". An intimate look at Lincoln's intelligence, compassion, bravery, humor, and tremendous effection for his army, truely a role model for any generation. A smooth read that will give you a new found respect for the 16th President and the Civil War.

5 comments about With Lawrence in Arabia (Prion Lost Treasures).

1. 
   Most reviewers, even the detractors, reckon this book as extremely well-written. Well, it isn't. It's written like a 1930s American newsreel - flash, upbeat, parochial, excited. Nevertheless, in parts it's great, and overall it's well worth reading for the information it provides and the insight it gives into the character of T. E. Lawrence.
   
   There can be no question that Lawrence was a great figure in Middle Eastern history, together with his flaws, his depth, his many mistakes and his fantastic successes. The vast majority of the time it's easy enough to tell when Lowell Thomas is writing for effect and when he is simply relating facts. He does not try to hide his excitement for the campaigns or his fondness for Lawrence.
   
   It's well worth reading this book for yourself and making up your own mind. As an eye-witness account of an important part of Middle Eastern history, it can scarcely be beaten. Virtually everything that happened in the Middle East during the time of Lawrence has had a direct bearing on the events of today.



2. Thomas' book is worth reading because it's a nice antidote to the Lawrence revisionism that reached it's hysterical peak in the late eighties with David Fromkin. A Peace to End All Peace, which has been quoted on this website as some kind of definitve debunking of Lawrence, is now sixteen years old, an eternity in the world of Lawrence ebb and flow. I know of five biographies of Lawrence published since then including Jeremy Wilson's definitive work. The pendulum has been swinging back the other way for over a decade and the mainstream thought now among military historians is that inspite of one or two exaggerations, Lawrence's masterpiece, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, is an accurate account of one of the most remarkable military adventures of modern times. Lowell Thomas, who was an eye witness to some of Lawrence's exploits, also captures the essence of why Lawrence was important. If you had to read only one, of course you should read Seven Pillars. In the March 1, 2004 London Times there are actually two different articles addressing the vital relevance of Seven Pillars of Wisdom for those fighting Arab guerrillas in Irag today. It seems the sales of this great work has exploded. In the Oxford Companion to Military History published in 2002, Lawrence is given credit for virtually inventing effective modern guerrilla warfare (see the entry "guerrilla warfare"). According to this distinguished reference book, every formidable guerrilla fighter from Mao, to Che, to the Israeli guerrillas of the forties, to the Arabs, to the Viet Namese etc., have used Lawrence's writings and experiences as a model for their efforts. Lawrence is back and very relevant, so Thomas' account should be read as an enthusiatic if flawed version of an extremely important development in military and middle eastern history. A word about Fromkin and some of the other out dated debunkers. Lawrence stepped on a lot of Arab, Zionist and British Establisment toes. It's as important to examine the motives of a revisionist as it is to scrutinize the intergrity of an enthusiast.



3. David Lean included a journalist, Jackson Bentley, in his epic film "Lawrence of Arabia," an obvious take-off on the great journalist and author Lowell Thomas. In fact, Thomas was with Lawrence in Arabia and used the experience to make a name for himself and to create a legend. Sadly, it is also true, that T.E. Lawrence did not want to be a legend. As a biography of Lawrence or an introduction to the Middle East this volume has suffered a bit over the years..."it's all right," but there are better books on each subject. Still, this is something special, at least for this writer. This was the first book on the Middle East that I read and when combined with Lean's film which I saw about the same time in early 1963 I was hooked. I have studied, taught about and written about the Middle East ever since. Lowell Thomas and David Lean were inspirations for this modest scholar. I had the privilege to spend part of an early evening with Lowell Thomas in 1973, in of all places a press box awaiting a football game at the University of Utah. It was an unexpected and rare treat. Thomas seemed quite moved that he had encouraged the work of a graduate student. He was was quite a man. His greatest talent was to tell stories, and that he did, with some dramatic embellishments. This work on Lawrence is not unfactual, indeed it provides a good deal of fact. It is also quite sympathetic to Islam and the Arabs, as it should be. Lawrence seems larger than life. But in truth there are men like that. Both Lawrence and Thomas were such men and that can be seen in this wonderful book. It reads well, and it educates, even if some of it is the stuff of legend.



4. In writing his book about Lawrence of Arabia, Lowell Thomas knew how to package a story for selling it to a wide variety of audiences. Thomas was, after all, a multi-media professional. Thomas sometimes took liberty with his subject such as how he recalled his first meeting with Lawrence (pg. 1). At other times, Thomas indulged in histrionics (for example when he grew emphatic about the most brilliant and spectacular military operation in the world's history) (pg. 179).

   Despite these shortcomings, "With Lawrence in Arabia" has the merit and talent to make a complex man accessible to the great majority of people. "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" by Lawrence himself, though a literary masterpiece, is not an easy read compared to Thomas's recollection of Lawrence's exploits. Furthermore, Thomas has defended himself with conviction when he reminds in his foreword that he has not created the myth of Lawrence of Arabia (xiv). Lord Beaverbrook put it nicely when he commented on vain attempts to smear Lawrence's reputation: Every great man is subject to vicious, venomous attack. There are no exceptions. The one who will suffer will be the author (xviii). Lawrence had admirers such as Winston Churchill, Field Marshal Viscount Allenby and Viceroy and Viscount Halifax, to name a few, who knew Lawrence's strengths and weaknesses from personal experience. Most Lawrence's detractors did not know him at this level.

   Most importantly, "With Lawrence in Arabia" gives contemporary readers valuable insights into the Middle East. The last chapters are probably the most fascinating and also the most actual of all. Thomas recalled how Lawrence helped his old friend, King Feisal, become king of Iraq after being kicked out of Syria by the French. Media-savvy, Lawrence convinced the British Empire to come to the realization that the occupation of Iraq was a burden both to the Imperial Exchequer and Mesopotamia (pg. 230-234). The Coalition in Iraq knows it very well and is working on a transition plan to help Iraqis regain their sovereignty. Probably elections will be held across Iraq in the near future to accommodate the concern of the Shiite community.

   After these elections, the mandated framers of the new Iraqi Constitution could proceed as follows:

   I. On Iraqis and their rights

   The U.S. Bill of Rights could serve as a source of inspiration to govern the relationships between Iraqi citizens and the state. However, the wording of some constitutional amendments should be slightly amended to be fully understandable to a 21st century audience. Although the predominantly Islamic character of Iraq could be stressed in the Fundamental Law as a concession to the Muslim clergy, the separation of religious institutions and state should be made very clear to preserve the rights of religious minorities. Finally, the incorporation of economic, social and cultural rights and their corresponding obligations into the Fundamental Law could be considered as well.

   II. On Power

   Separation of powers and checks and balances should define the legislative, executive and judiciary powers and their respective competences. The Constitution should also promulgate that the Iraqi federal authority only has power in the matters that are formally attributed to it by the Fundamental Law and the laws carried in pursuance of the Constitution itself. Finally, the Iraqi presidency could be modeled after the provisions of the German Fundamental Law because of the recent dictatorial past of the country.

   III. On Federal Iraq, its components and its territory

   The Belgian Constitution could serve as a useful model to regulate the relationships between the center and the regions as well as between regions in Iraq. Unlike other regions such as former Yugoslavia, Rwanda or Northern Ireland, to name a few, Belgium, sometimes branded as an "artificial state," has been very good at making possible for different communities to live at peace with one another for many years. The "Belgian compromise" could work wonders in a country under stress of centrifugal forces.

   IV. Energy-revenue management

   Because easy money encourages corruption in most energy-producing countries, Iraq should set up a fund after the example of Norway. Part of the money should be reinvested to modernize the aged Iraqi infrastructure; part of these funds should be redistributed directly to Iraqi citizens based on census data to strongly discourage manipulation of the fund.

   As Lawrence himself put it, "whether the (Iraqis) are fit for independence or not remains to be tried. Merit is no qualification for freedom. Freedom is enjoyed when you are so well armed, or so turbulent, or inhabit a country so thorny that the expense ... is greater than the profit (pg. 234)." Light at the end of the tunnel, hopefully, is in sight for Iraqis to rebuild their country with success after decades wasted by a variety of ineffectual dictators.




5. Reporters have been known, now and then, to play fast and loose with the facts to entertain their readers or elevate themselves. This phenomenon is not limited to our own age. For proof, look no further than this fanciful volume.

   In 1917, Lowell Thomas was a 25-year-old part-time instructor at Princeton, a "fledgling showman from Ohio who had knocked about North America in search of fame, fortune and adventure," according to historian David Fromkin (A Peace to End All Peace). Thomas then raised enough money to travel to Britain and the Middle East front as a World War I cameraman. With this coverage began the Lawrence of Arabia myth.

   Thomas was "in search of a salable story with romance and color," Fromkin writes. He found one in Lawrence, who dressed in Arab robes and lived with Arabs. Thomas altered the facts to meet his own mercenary needs. Backed by the New York Globe, Thomas returned to New York with a false story of an Arab revolt he claimed had destroyed the Ottoman empire. At Century Theater in 1919, Thomas played a slide show and lecture, which soon moved to Madison Square Garden, then to London's Royal Opera House and Albert Hall. It eventually became With Lawrence in Arabia.

   Unfortunately, many readers still accept as gospel the Lawrence of Arabia myth that stemmed largely from Lowell Thomas' hype. This was long ago debunked, along with critical points in Lawrence's own Seven Pillars of Wisdom, but not everyone seems to know it.

   Fromkin writes that in 1920, when poet and scholar Robert Graves proposed to describe the liberation of Damascus, Lawrence himself warned Graves, "I was on thin ice when I wrote the Damascus chapter...." A onetime junior officer in the Cairo Arab Bureau, Lawrence admitted that Seven Pillars of Wisdom included a false tale of Arab bravery to aggrandize the followers of Sharif Hussein of Mecca and his son Feisal. As early as 1818, reputable newsmen reported that the Australian Light Horse division liberated Damascus from Ottoman control, not Feisal's Arab troops, who marched in afterwards, for show.

   Efraim and Inari Karsh write (Empires of the Sand) that Lawrence's victory in Damascus was "less heroic" than he pretended: Feisal was "engaged in an unabashed exercise in duplicity and none knew this better than Lawrence, who whole heartedly endorsed this illicit adventure and kept most of its contours hidden from his own superiors." Yet Lawrence basked in the limelight, attending at least five of Thomas' London lectures.

   By 1921, Fromkin writes, Winston Churchill was in charge of Britain's Arab policy in Mesopotamia and tapped John Evelyn Shuckburgh to head a new Middle East department and Foreign Office man Hubert Winthrop Young to assist him. They arranged transport and supplies for Feisal's Arab army, earning hearty endorsement from Churchill's Masterson Smith committee, which simultaneously took grave exception to T.E. Lawrence as a proposed Arab affairs adviser. The committee considered Lawrence "not the kind of man fit to easily fit into any official machine."

   Fromkin reports that Lawrence was frequently insubordinate, went over his superiors and in 1920 publicly disparaged Britain's Arab policy in the London Sunday Times as being "worse than the Turkish system." He also accused Britain of killing "a yearly average of 100 Arabs to maintain peace." This was of course untrue. Those who want to know what really happened should consult A Peace to End All Peace and the Karsh's Empires of the Sand.

   Clearly, With Lawrence in Arabia is well written. But Thomas took liberties, to say the least. William Carlos Williams and Archibald MacLeish, two of his contemporaries, became more famous as poets than as journalists. Yet unlike Thomas, they wisely kept poetic license out of their reporting. Alyssa A. Lappen