Lawrence James
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Lawrence James is a British writer and historian. He has written several works of popular history about the British Empire, and has been widely praised for his narrative skill, scholarship and readability.
[edit] Life and career
Lawrence James was born in Bath and educated at the University of York, where he studied History and English. He then completed a research degree at Merton College, Oxford.
He pursued a teaching career latterly as Head of History at Sedbergh School before deciding to become a full-time writer in 1985. In the early 1990s, he published biographies of British imperial adventurers like Lawrence of Arabia and Viscount Allenby. The book on TE Lawrence was the subject of controversy among Lawrence enthusiasts, generally because of James' efforts to demythologize his mythical subject and more specifically because of his casting doubt on Lawrence's story of homosexual rape and torture at the hands of the Turks in November 1917, a critical event in Lawrence's life and one that he wrote about in Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
James then followed up with a pair of epic blockbusters. The Rise and Fall of the British Empire (1994) and Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India (1997) were both well-written, wide-angle panoramas of empire, and both were well received by the press and the public. However, some have criticised James for conclusions at odds with his detailed analysis of the economic and social impact of empire, possibly indicating a desire, perhaps unintentional, to present the effect of British influence in India in a positive light (in itself, not a fallacy and a much-debated point of contention between historians).
James is also respected as a military historian, and he has published several accounts of imperial campaigns.
James often writes articles for the Daily Mail, the Times, and Literary Review. He also appears regularly on television.
Lawrence James lives in St Andrews, Scotland with his wife Mary, a teacher and former headmistress of St Leonards School. He has two sons.
[edit] Notable works
- Imperial Rearguard: The Last Wars of Empire, 1988
- The Golden Warrior: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia, 1990
- Imperial Warrior: The Life and Times of Field Marshal Viscount Allenby, 1993
- The Rise and Fall of the British Empire, 1994
- Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India, 1997
- The Illustrated Rise and Fall of the British Empire, 1999
- Warrior Race: A History of the British at War, 2001
- The Iron Duke: A Military Biography of Wellington, 2002
- The Middle Class, 2006 (upcoming)
