Setting the Desert on Fire: T. E. Lawrence and Britain's Secret War in Arabia, 1916-1918 by James Barr
T. E. Lawrence's classic Seven Pillars of Wisdom made the Arab revolt a legend and helped turn him into the mythical Lawrence of Arabia. Setting the Desert on Fire is both a masterly account of the intrigue behind the revolt and its startling consequences for the present-day Middle East and a portrait of Lawrence that brings fresh insight to the true nature of the master mythmaker.