Seven Pillars of Inexpensive Wisdom
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| Another atmospheric hideout on Maryland's Eastern Shore. |
Yesterday's prize acquisitions at Market Street Books in Salisbury, Maryland: The Seven Pillars of Wisdom in a U.K. Penguin edition for barely 28 cents per pillar and Volume Two of Francis Parkman, France and England in North America, in a Library of America edition with slipcase for $12.50.I shall try to tease some crime out of my reading of history.
© Peter Rozovsky 2014
Labels: bookstores, Eastern Shore, images, Market Street Books, Maryland, used, what I did on my vacation
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 11:22 AM
16 Comments:
It is a triumph especially since TE Lawrence lost the original (and only) manuscript on a railway car. Started over and wrote it again. A feat comparable to the Arab Revolt.
I still wonder if Lawrence is a hero or a villain in the history of the Middle East.
I suspect it may depend upon who's writing the history.
As long as you didn't steal it just to work it into your crime blog, much else will be permitted.
Jim, I learned that bit of information about the book's history last night from my edition's introductory material. A fair bit of stiff-upper-lippery it must have taken to begin the book again.
R.T., I know so little about Lawrence that I have never seen Lawrence of Arabia, not even since Peter O'Toole died. I will look forward to seeing to what extent his heroism (or villainy) blended with whatever cold political calculation the British might have displayed in supporting an uprising against the their enemy the Ottomans.
Fred: See my previous comment. I have only the vaguest idea of Lawrence as a romantic figure, and, indeed, the book's first chapter is a bit self-dramatizing, albeit in a brutal, explicit way. As for his role in the the history of the Middle East, I shall see.
Seana, I hope I made it clear that far from stealing the book, I paid two dollars for Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
Yes, but we can only take your word for it...
Would a receipt, itemized and handwritten in such detail that it took us several minutes past the store's closing time ease your mind?
Nah, you'd say I could have forged it.
Peter, how long have you been reading crime fiction. There is no way we can know for certain that you haven't figured out an angle. We basically just have to trust you.
Just for the record . . . and further reading for those interested. I just finished it and recommend it highly.
Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson
OK, Seana, you have me nailed. I'll start work tomorrow on a semi-autobiographical story called "The Two Dollar Heist."
Thanks, anonymous. It appears from blurbs that the book does indeed address British calculation as well as German, American, and French. I shall be interested to see how the author handles these. I hope, too, he gives the moribund and dead Ottoman Empire the courtesy of some good analysis.
And I love the picture you've posted. Is that the bed & breakfast where you are staying during your vacation? Charming!
Nope, that was just one of many possible hideouts in case I decide to supplement my income by pulling a heist.
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