Friday, February 28, 2014

Seven Pillars of Inexpensive Wisdom

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

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16 Comments:

Anonymous James R Benn said...

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.

February 28, 2014  
Blogger Unknown said...

I still wonder if Lawrence is a hero or a villain in the history of the Middle East.

February 28, 2014  
Blogger Fred said...

I suspect it may depend upon who's writing the history.

February 28, 2014  
Blogger seana graham said...

As long as you didn't steal it just to work it into your crime blog, much else will be permitted.

February 28, 2014  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

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.

February 28, 2014  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

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.

February 28, 2014  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

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.

February 28, 2014  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

Seana, I hope I made it clear that far from stealing the book, I paid two dollars for Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

February 28, 2014  
Blogger seana graham said...

Yes, but we can only take your word for it...

February 28, 2014  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

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.

February 28, 2014  
Blogger seana graham said...

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.

February 28, 2014  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

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

February 28, 2014  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

OK, Seana, you have me nailed. I'll start work tomorrow on a semi-autobiographical story called "The Two Dollar Heist."

March 01, 2014  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

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.

March 01, 2014  
Blogger Unknown said...

And I love the picture you've posted. Is that the bed & breakfast where you are staying during your vacation? Charming!

March 03, 2014  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

Nope, that was just one of many possible hideouts in case I decide to supplement my income by pulling a heist.

March 03, 2014  

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