Seeing Arabia: The Personal Photographs Of Lawrence Of Arabia

Seeing Arabia is a new book by George Thompson published in 2024 by the Lorenzo de’ Medici Press in association with the T. E. Lawrence Society. It is a unique publication because it is the first one to evaluate T. E. Lawrence’s wartime photographs as both visual and historic objects. This 140 page book features 6 maps; over 165 photographs; a forward by Alan Wakefield, Head of First World War & Early 20^th Century Conflict, Imperial War Museum; and a postscript by Jay Winter, Charles J. Stille Professor of History Emeritus, Department History, Yale University. 

What makes this an important study is the narrative combined with its images offers a new entry point into one of the most complex and enigmatic men of the 20^th century. These little seen photographs give one a new appreciation of Lawrence as a visual thinker and provide us with the means to better understand this man and his war.

George Thompson resides in the Greater Kansas City area of the United States where he devotes his time to lecturing, writing and developing programs on the First World War. His current focus is on the life of T. E. Lawrence. He brings to this subject his preparation as a historian and visual artist by earning graduate degrees in modern European history and a Master of Fine Arts.