- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co. (8 Feb 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0393001962
- ISBN-13: 978-0393001969
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 12.7 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,308,966 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
T.E. Lawrence compiled this book from notes that he had written after enlisting in the RAF in 1922. This edition has been restored to its original and it reflects the strange physical and mental state he was in after his war experiences and his subsequent struggle to fulfill the British Government's undertakings towards the Arabs. In a letter to George Bernard Shaw, Lawrence called the book "a private diary, interesting to the world only in so far as the world may desire to dissect my personality".
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a journal of life (in particular recruitment into) the British Royal Air Force in 1922. The title refers the author's feeling that recruits were stamped into shape. A must for military historians, but also of great general interest. However; be warned- the language is brutally frank (which makes it all very credible). The ordinary ratings used an entirely different vocabulary to that of the officers.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was written by ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and concerns the period after the First World War when he decided to disappear from public view and signed on with the RAF anonymously under an assumed name and became Aircraftsman Ross. His time at the depot lasted from August to December 1922.
He recounts the harassing experience of boot camp and military life, with a few gems of human insight and reflection. As an accurate and honest record of his life as lived in the pre-World War Two RAF it is highly illuminating. Miltary history and Lawrence fans will particularly value this book as it provides an important source of knowledge of life at the bottom of the military pile, and also of material on one the century's most fascinating people.
This has been called the "most honest" of Lawrence's works, and much of the telling is necessarily brutal. A definite must-read for Lawrence aficionados.
Format:Hardcover
When Colonel Lawrence came back from leading the Arab Revolt he dropped out of society to avoid the Press and enlisted in the RAF in 1922 with a new identity as Aircraftman Ross. It didn't work of course. This is his warts and all account of life as an ordinary man in the Services. It is an honest account of a brutal life but given that it wasn't published until 1955 (20 years after his death) it does all seem a bit late. Those who have served in the military or seen TV series such as Lad's Army will recognise the pointless drilling, bullying, the banality of barrack room life, the fruity banter, eating your food in 5 mins flat, the early morning rising etc. But really we've heard it all before. I read the 1955 version which had gaps where the swear words had been removed. But you can work out what the word was by the length of the gap anyway. More modern editions are now uncut. This would have caused a sensation if it had been published in the 1920's but now seems passé. Having said that Lawrence does write well. His description of men like Stiffy and other types is spot on while his evocation of the utter hell of being a raw recruit at the mercy of bullying NCO's is very good. I just wish it had been published a long time ago. For TEL fans only.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An Ordinary Man
After the Great War T E Lawrence was acclaimed as one of the truly great romantic heroes of that awful conflict. Read more
Published 21 months ago by P. Pickup
Review of 'The Mint' by T.E. LAWRENCE (Lawrence of Arabia)
Bought this book out of curiosity as the author spent a few years 'incognito' serving in RAF as an ordinary airman to escape the relentless publicity. Read more
Published on 24 Feb 2010 by Michael Scott
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