A biography of Lawrence of Arabia in the years that formed him.

Anthony Sattin knows a good story when he sees one. While most of Lawrence's biographers focus heavily on the war period, Sattin has grasped the importance of the years Lawrence spent in the Middle East beforehand, essential preparation for what followed. He has filled the ominous political background that Lawrence knew, but hardly mentioned in his letters home. As a travel writer enlarging on the writings of a forerunner, Sattin also often enriches Lawrence's account. I thoroughly enjoyed the result -- Jeremy Wilson, authorised Lawrence biographer Praise for Anthony Sattin's previous works . Anthony Sattin's study itself has a dreamlike quality ... he movingly reminds us of how, in the midst of life, those destined for greatness have no more idea where they are going than the rest of us Sunday Times It is a tribute to Sattin's knowledge of Egypt and his skill as a writer that he makes this counterpoint narrative seem so effortless. His protagonists circle without ever touching in a dance through the desert Independent Sattin has written a brilliantly assured experiment in biography, a triumph of the historical imagination. Convincingly researched, informed by an unobtrusive first-hand knowledge of Egyptian places, compellingly skilful in the writing, the whole story is illuminated by Anthony Sattin's delicately perceptive sense of character in action Literary Review Anthony Sattin has excelled himself Conde Nast Traveller Absorbing, highly readable and in places ironically humorous, a well-rounded and definitive study Martin Booth, Sunday Times An extraordinary panorama of adventure, scholarship, intellectual enterprise and ideological conviction, enlivened by frequent splashes of eccentricity and beautifully written throughout Jan Morris A marvellous and brilliant book William Dalrymple, Spectator

Anthony Sattin is a journalist, broadcaster and the author of several highly acclaimed books of history and travel including The Gates of Africa, Lifting the Veil and A Winter on the Nile. He is editorial advisor on Geographical Magazine, a contributing editor to Conde Nast Traveller and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He lives in London and the Middle East.