Some books are called histories, but they are really spy novels in disguise. That is the case with Lawrence and Aaronsohn, a well documented and readable work on the period in Middle East history when the British Commonwealth was a colonial power divvying up land and creating nations.
The book is about a clash of power. In the Middle East the British and the Ottomans were major power players. Both Lawrence and Aaronsohn were spying for the British, each with a different agenda. Lawrence, who was later to be known as Lawrence of Arabia, was hoping to create Arab nationalism in Palestine. Aaronsohn, a world class agronomist, was pushing for a Jewish State.
The visions of these two men were vastly different; that is the basis of this superb work. Ronald Florence puts forth the thesis that these two divergent points of view and the accompanying attitudes of these men are the true roots of the current conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
