This balanced study of a man whose character and achievements have been much debated is based on a review of virtually every published and unpublished English source in British and US libraries and archives, including the important archive of Lawrence's letters and papers in the Bodleian Library. Part I discusses Lawrence's life in a conventional chronological sequence. Part II is devoted to enduring themes: his living and spending habits; his relations with family members and friends; and the elements of genius and madness, honesty and evasiveness, vanity and humility, and masochism, in his nature.