The best film preview of the subject. It will give you the names of all the players, the countries, and who did what to whom. It's like a college 101 survey mini course. It has a segement about Lawrence.

As the title suggests, this DVD describes how the British Empire created the mess that we Americans have to deal with today.

The same as with the other book, the primary value is in the photos, of National Geographic quality. It helps you picture the battle that I consider the most spectacular that Lawrence ever won. He trapped the Turks and Germans in the narrow Siq at the entrance to the city.

This was T.E. Lawrence's bestseller, written in a style that most readers could understand. Lots of action.

While Lawrence of Arabia was fighting for a Pan Arab state to be ruled by King Hussein and his son Feisal, Ibn Saud had other ideas. No sooner was WWI finished, no sooner did the French and British decide NOT to give Lawrence what he had fought for, than Ibn Saud made everything irrelevant by taking over. He created the modern state of Saudi Arabia.

Again this is picture book for military costumes of the time period. I like to use it for reference to make sure that my characters are dressed correctly.

This presents the British soldier's point of view in 1915, the second year of the war but really the year that made people realize it wasn't going to be over soon. The culprit? Gallipoli! I used it for its harrowing account of that battle. In my novel it's the last battle that Edward Ware fights before he ships off with T.E. Lawrence.

None of the other writings of Lawrence let you know him as well as reading his letters. He's sort of like Lord Byron in that regard, a genius at expressing himself in short notes to his many acquaintances, family, and friends.

This movie is back bigger and better than ever in time to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of World War I and Lawrence of Arabia's Arab Revolt. It was the treat I needed along with all its "extra material" after I finished my historical thriller. The movie was made when there were still lots of World War I veterans. Now they are history. Watching the film in 2008 is nostalgic.

On P. 134 in a essay called The Sherif's Religious Views August 12, 1917 Lawrence states that Hussein was alarmed by the sudden growth of the Wahabi sect under Ibn Saud. Hussein preferred a neutral position, favoring neither the Sunni nor the Shia. It makes the reader appreciate what we've lost in the past one hundred years when Lawrence's Arab Revolt succeeded militarily but failed politcally.