4 The previous day: Yale, The Reminiscences of William Yale, p. 7; Columbia University, Oral History Research Office, 1973.

5 Fluent in Arabic: McKale, War by Revolution, p. 22, n. 18.

Chapter 2: A Very Unusual Type.

1 A Very Unusual Type: Many of the details on T. E. Lawrence's childhood and early years are drawn from the two most definitive books on the topic, John Mack's A Prince of Our Disorder, and Jeremy Wilson's Lawrence of Arabia; William Yale provided information about his childhood and youth in the "Prelude" to It Takes So Long, his unpublished memoir. For this period in Curt Prfer's life, Donald McKale's Curt Prfer is almost quite literally the only source available, his material drawn from interviews he conducted with Prfer's son, Olaf, since deceased.

2 "Can you make room": Hogarth to Petrie, July 10, 1911, as cited by Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia, p. 85.

3 "I think it time": Lawrence, The Home Letters, p. 23.

4 "We had a very happy childhood": Robert Lawrence quoted in A. W. Lawrence, T. E. Lawrence by His Friends (1954 edition), p. 31.

5 There, the couple a.s.sumed: The genesis of the Lawrence family name was actually a good deal more complicated, for as T. E. Lawrence learned from his mother in 1919, she too had been born illegitimate. The name appearing on her birth certificate was Sarah Junner, and she had only adopted the Lawrence surname, that of her presumed father, as a teenager. This casualness with surnames might also help explain the apparent ease with which T. E. later a.s.sumed aliases of his own, trading in Thomas Edward Lawrence for John Hume Ross, and then Ross for Thomas Edward Shaw.

6 "You can imagine": Thomas (Chapman) Lawrence (undated); Bodleian MS Eng C 6740.

7 He kept the information: Lawrence to Charlotte Shaw, April 14, 1927, cited by Mack, A Prince of Our Disorder, p. 26.

8 This wasn't the: E. F. Hall in A. W. Lawrence, T. E. Lawrence by His Friends (1954 edition), pp. 4445.

9 "He was unlike": H. R. Hall, as quoted in Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia, p. 25.

10 These were not mere spankings: Mack, A Prince of Our Disorder, p. 33.

11 "I bathed today": Lawrence, The Home Letters, pp. 6566.

12 "Well," Lawrence said: Hogarth to Robert Graves, as quoted in Graves, Lawrence and the Arabs, p. 18.

13 "The distances": Doughty to Lawrence, February 3, 1909, in A. W. Lawrence, Letters to T. E. Lawrence, p. 37.

14 "It is rather amusing": Lawrence, The Home Letters, p. 106.

15 "This is a glorious country": Ibid., p. 103.

16 "I will have such difficulty": Ibid., p. 105.

17 Tellingly, considering the schoolyard taunts: McKale, Curt Prfer, pp. 5; 152; 19394 n. 5; 233 n. 28.

18 But in contrast: For the history of prewar Germany and the Wilhelmine era, I have primarily consulted Fischer, Germany's Aims in the First World War; Macdonogh, The Last Kaiser; and Cecil, Wilhelm II, vols. 1 and 2.

19 Two years later: Prfer, Personalbogen, October 24, 1944; NARA T120, Roll 2539, Frame E309975.

20 "The galleries and benches": As translated by Olaf Prfer in "Notes on My Father," unpublished memoir used by permission of Trina Prfer.

21 That winter, he: Details on Prfer's relationship with Frances Prfer (nee Pinkham) are at: NARA RG165, Entry 67, Box 379, File PF25794, Attachment 8.

22 "Really, this country": Lawrence, The Home Letters, p. 218.

23 "the gospel of bareness": Lawrence to Richards, July 15, 1918, in Garnett, The Letters of T. E. Lawrence, p. 239.

24 "an interesting character": Lawrence, The Home Letters, pp. 17374.

25 This pa.s.sion also: For the history of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of the Committee of Union and Progress, I have primarily consulted Aksakal, The Ottoman Road to War in 1914; Kent, The Great Powers and the End of the Ottoman Empire; and Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, vols. 1 and 2.

26 In other European: Lowther to Hardinge, May 29, 1910, as cited by Yapp, The Making of the Modern Near East, pp. 18384.

27 The adventurer finally set up: Cecil, The German Diplomatic Service, p. 102.

28 "Every autumn": McMeekin, The Berlin-Baghdad Express, p. 25.

29 Forwarded some of Oppenheim's: Ibid., p. 22.

30 In early 1909: McKale, War by Revolution, p. 22.

31 "I seem to have been": Lawrence, The Home Letters, p. 217.

32 "He was such a horrible person": Ibid., p. 225.

33 Just what that ideal: For the history of Standard Oil and its breakup, see Chernow, t.i.tan, and Yergin, The Prize.

34 "My mind was": Yale, It Takes So Long, chapter 1, p. 1.

35 "You must not think": Lawrence, The Home Letters, p. 447.

Chapter 3: Another and Another Nice Thing.

1 "Always my soul": Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 277.

2 "Then we took": Lawrence, The Home Letters, p. 275.

3 "I have got": Lawrence to V. Richards, in Garnett, The Letters of T. E. Lawrence, pp. 16061.

4 And while William Yale: Yale, It Takes So Long, undated early drafts, BU Box 8.

5 "There." J. C. Hill: Yale, The Reminiscences of William Yale, p. 6, Columbia University, Oral History Research Office, 1973.

6 "from now on": As cited by Florence, Lawrence and Aaronsohn, p. 91.

7 Rather than make: For details on Aaronsohn's childhood and early life, I have relied extensively on Florence, Lawrence and Aaronsohn, and Engle, The Nili Spies.

8 While the notion of a return: For the early history of Zionism, I have primarily drawn from Laqueur, A History of Zionism; O'Brien, The Siege; and Sachar, A History of Israel.

9 "Before long": Florence, Lawrence and Aaronsohn, pp. 9091.

10 Both the most likely: Aaronsohn to Mack, "Aaron's Confession," October 9, 1916, p. 8, ZY.

11 "he was like fire": Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 239.

12 "I expected to": Newcombe in A. W. Lawrence, T. E. Lawrence by His Friends (1937 edition), p. 105.

13 "We are obviously": Lawrence, The Home Letters, p. 280.

14 It was this ruse: The most detailed account of the military and political motives behind the Zin expedition is in Moscrop's Measuring Jerusalem, chapter 8.

15 "The Palestine Fund": Lawrence, The Home Letters, p. 282.

16 Most alarming to: Note Confidentielle, Government of Egypt to the President of the Council of Ministers, November 11, 1911; PRO-FO 371/1114, File 44628.

17 "unsuitable": British government correspondence and reports related to the Prfer khedival library dispute can be found in PRO-FO 371/1114, File 44628.

18 "I am absolutely": As cited by Cecil, The German Diplomatic Service, p. 102.

19 "I photographed": Lawrence to Leeds, February 28, 1914, in Garnett, The Letters of T. E. Lawrence, p. 165.

20 "I learnt that": Lawrence, The Home Letters, p. 287.

63 Upon parting ways: William Yale's account of the Kornub oil expedition is largely drawn from Yale, It Takes So Long, chapter 2.

22 Caught up in: British government correspondence related to the Socony-Palestine concession issue is held in PRO-FO 371/2124. See also Edelman to Secretary of State, April 10, 1914; NARA M353, Roll 67, doc.u.ment 867.6363/4.

23 The bulk of: Lawrence to Flecker, "Monday [June 1914]," in Garnett, The Letters of T. E. Lawrence, p. 171. While Lawrence did not specify on which Monday in June he was writing, it can be deduced that it was June 29 by a June 1 letter he wrote to his family from Carchemish. Discussing his upcoming journey home, Lawrence wrote that "you may look for me about the 25th. or so."

Chapter 4: To the Last Million.

1 "Sir: I have the honor": Hollis to Lansing, November 9, 1914; NARA M353, Roll 6, Decimal 867.00/713.

2 "It will not end": Magnus, Kitchener, pp. 28384.

3 Over the next four years: Stevenson, 19141918, p. 54.

4 in just a two-year span: Keegan, The First World War, p. 7; J. Vallin, "La Mortalite par generation en France depuis 1899 [Mortality by Generation in France Since 1899]," Travaux et Doc.u.ments, Cahier no. 63 (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France).

5 "cannot be considered severe": Haig, diary entry of July 2, 1916, as cited in Gilbert, The Somme, p. 93.

6 Under orders from Kitchener: Lawrence to Liddell Hart, in Graves and Hart, T. E. Lawrence: Letters to His Biographers, Pt. 2, p. 90.

7 In early September: Ibid.

8 "short, cleansing thunderstorm": As quoted in Fischer, War of Illusions, p. 542.

9 "I am writing": Lawrence to Rieder, September 18, 1914, in Garnett, The Letters of T. E. Lawrence, p. 185.

10 If Lawrence hadn't: William Yale's account of life in Jerusalem in late 1914 is largely drawn from Yale, It Takes So Long, chapter 2.

11 Invoking a state: NARA RG84, Entry 448, Volume 14.

12 "preserve Ottoman neutrality": Beaumont to Gray, August 3, 1913, File 35857, No. 605; and Tewfik Pasha to Grey, August 4, 1914, File 35844, No. 598, in Gooch & Temperly, British Doc.u.ments on the Origins of the War, Vol. XI.

13 Already by mid-September: An excellent and fairly nonbiased account of the war tensions in Syria is to be found in the consulate diary maintained by the American consul in Damascus, John Dye; NARA RG84, Entry 350, Volume 101. An understandably more biased account is Alex Aaronsohn's With the Turks in Palestine.

14 indeed, at the time of the accord's signing: The secrecy of the Turkish-German alliance was zealously maintained by both sides. On July 29, 1914, while the secret pact with Enver was still being negotiated, General Liman von Sanders, the commander of the German military mission to Turkey, pet.i.tioned for permission to return to Germany in the event of war. Shown Sander's telegram, Kaiser Wilhelm noted in the margin, "Must stay there and also foment war and revolt against England. Doesn't he yet know of the intended alliance, under which he is to be Commander in Chief?!"

15 In mid-August, the kaiser: Oppenheim to Bethmann-Hollweg, August 18, 1914; NARA T137, Roll 143, Frames 1621, Der Weltkrieg no. 11, Band 1.

16 Even if he remained dubious: Prfer, Diary, September 8, 1914; HO.

17 At these meetings: Oppenheim to Bethmann-Hollweg, August 18, 1914; NARA T137, Roll 143, Frames 1621, Der Weltkrieg no. 11, Band 1.

18 "the handsomest man": New York Times, April 20, 1915.

19 "A man of stone": Prfer, Diary, September 7, 1914; HO.

20 The Turkish war minister: Interrogation of Robert Mors, October 10, 1914, pp. 45; PRO-FO 371/1972, File 66271.

21 "Even without [Turkey joining the] war": Mallet to Grey, September 15, 1914; PRO-FO 371/1970, f. 8.

22 "laughed at [the] idea": Mallet to Grey, October 6, 1914; PRO-FO 371/1970, f. 93.

23 "Because once I found": Interrogation of Robert Mors, October 10, 1914, p. 5; PRO-FO 371/1972, File 66271.

24 For his central role: McKale, Curt Prfer, p. 31.

25 As Lawrence quipped: Lawrence to "Friend," in Garnett, The Letters of T. E. Lawrence, p. 188.

26 "I want to talk": Lawrence to Liddell Hart, August 1, 1933, in Graves and Hart, T. E. Lawrence: Letters to His Biographers, Pt. 2, p. 141.

27 "Turkey seems": Lawrence to Fontana, October 19, 1914, in Garnett, The Letters of T. E. Lawrence, p. 187.

28 "Now it's Cairo": Lawrence to Fontana, December 4, 1914, in ibid., p. 189.