Reviews of Lawrence and Aaronsohn

Florence chronicles the birth of the modern Middle East by narrating the intersecting lives of two remarkable men.… skillfully blends geopolitical history and cloak-and-dagger tales …

— The New Yorker

Florence does a superb job of contrasting these two fascinating characters. The flamboyant, romantic Lawrence who was so attracted by the free life of tribal randomness seems the polar opposite of the methodical, scientific Aaronsohn who was so dedicated to the creation of a Jewish homeland. In crafting complex and absorbing portraits of his two protagonists, Florence has produced a singular and important book that does much to illuminate the roots of today’s debate over borders and birthrights in the troubled Middle East

— The Providence Journal

… literary grace … compelling narrative, threaded throughout with suspense, drama, heart-stopping history and historic personages, all re-created with skill and passion.

— Hadassah Magazine

Florence's well-written and frequently surprising work sheds light on usually neglected aspects of Middle Eastern history.

— Booklist

Ronald Florence … has created a revealing narrative about the territorial conflicts in the Middle East.

— Boston Globe

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 … superb work.

— Jewish Book World

… reasonable, readable history …

—Benny Morris, in Haaretz

There are so many fascinating stories in Lawrence and Aaronsohn, and Ronald Florence has done marvelous work … Lawrence and Aaronsohn, their times and places, positively come alive. … masterful … history as drama, and it makes for compelling reading.

— Chicago Jewish Star

… gripping narrative captures so many facets of this history that suspense remains high even though we know the outcome.

— Reform Judaism Magazine

There's suspense and pathos in Florence's saga of the war-torn Middle East …

— Publisher's Weekly

Ronald Florence gives us a highly readable and thoroughly enjoyable aperçu into two extraordinary personalities who played a dramatic role in the emergence of modern Israel.

— Howard M. Sachar, author of A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time

It would be hard for a playwright to juxtapose two characters more out of tune with each other and with the world they inhabited than T.E. Lawrence and Aaron Aaronsohn. Yet Ronald Florence engagingly shows how Aaronsohn worked in an odd sort of tandem with Lawrence, spokesman for the Arab tribes. The unpredictable Lawrence and the often obnoxious Aaronsohn may not have been regarded as good company by their contemporaries, but in this dual biography they are as fascinating as their turbulent times.

—Brian Garfield, author of Hopscotch, Death Wish, and The Meinerzhagen Mystery.

Two colleagues in British intelligence had conflicting obsessions that presaged the Arab-Israeli conflict … Historian and novelist Florence tells their story well.

—Harvard Magazine

Florence combines the incredible life story of the iconic Lawrence of Arabia with that of a Jewish agronomist from Palestine. The pair, who could not have been more different, came together as colleagues in the British intelligence during World War I. Using their relationship, Florence weaves a rich tapestry that is both biography and history.

—The Biographer's Craft

If Steven Spielberg is shopping for a new story to tell as an epic movie, here it is.

—Jewish Voice & Herald

T.E. Lawrence and Aaron Aaronsohn are, in many ways, the fathers of the modern Middle East and its myriad woes. Their disputes anticipated the religious and political battles that continue to tear that region apart. With dramatic flair, Florence reconstructs these two men in fine … detail.

— WashingtonCEO