Methuen Library Reprint, 1978

This book had a profound influence on Lawrence of Arabia. In what became his trademark style, the young T.E.Lawrence was not afraid to take on an opposing viewpoint, even if it meant going against Sir Charles Oman, the Oxford academic expert on Crusader castles at the time, whose own stance was that East had influenced West, not vice-versa. Lawrence, not without basis, was confident he could out-research Oman and convince his examiners that the Crusaders took their own architecture to the Holy Land. This interest in the Middle East was to become a lifelong passion for Lawrence.