T E Lawrence, the Arab Revolt and the Middle East Now

T E Lawrence, the Arab Revolt and the Middle East Now

Festival of Ideas 2016

Event

Please note: This event took place in June 2016

Are we still living with the implications of the Arab Revolt and the post-World War I settlement? A distinguished panel of historians, archaeologists, political analysts and Middle East specialists look at the Arab Revolt and the present-day Middle East.

The panellists are: Leila Al-Shami, founding member of Tahrir-ICN, a network that aims to connect anti-authoritarian struggles across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe; Neil Faulkner, editor of Military History Monthly, co-director the Great Arab Revolt Project in Jordan (2006-2014) and author of Lawrence of Arabia’s War: The Arabs, the British and the Remaking of the Middle East in WW1; Eugene Rogan, professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, director of the Middle East Centre at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford and author of The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East, 1914-1920; Avi Shlaim, professor emeritus of International Relations at St Antony's College, Oxford University, and author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World and Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations; and Robin Yassin-Kassab novelist (The Road from Damascus) and co-author, with Al-Shami, of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War.

This event will also feature an introduction by Sir Christopher Frayling. He talks about how the legend of Lawrence was promoted by the American journalist and showman Lowell Thomas, and shows some of the film extracts Thomas used in his celebrated presentation 'With Lawrence in Arabia'. Thomas had been granted exclusive access to the Arab Revolt, and his presentation - from 1920 onwards - was a huge box-office success, seen by Prince Faisal, Lord Allenby, the King and Queen - and by Lawrence himself (who said "thank God the lights were down", but saw it several times...).


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