Surely no one ever offered a volume to the publicwho was quite so deeply indebted to others, and Ihave long looked forward to the opportunity of expressingmy gratitude. To do this I must turn backthe pages of time to the days when, accompanied bymy photographic colleague, Mr. Harry A. Chase, andtwo other assistants, I left America to gather informationand secure a pictorial record of the variousphases of the struggle that was then in progress allthe way from the North Sea to far-off Arabia.
We had set forth early in 1917 and were expectedto return at the end of a year or so to help in the workof stimulating enthusiasm for the Allied cause. Thelate Mr. Franklin K. Lane, secretary of the interior,suggested that I resign from the faculty of PrincetonUniversity in order to undertake this. ToSecretary Lane, Secretary Daniels of the Navy Department,and Secretary Baker of the War Department,who were responsible for our becoming attachedsuccessively to the various Allied armies, I amindebted for the opportunities which enabled me toobtain the material for this volume. This was beforea special appropriation had been set aside for suchwork; as a result of Secretary Lane’s suggestion,eighteen distinguished private citizens supplied thefunds for the undertaking.
Mr. Chase and I have just concluded a three-yeartour of the world, during which I have shown thepictorial record and narrated to several million peoplethe story which we brought back of Allenby’s conquestof the Holy Land, and the hitherto unknownstory of Lawrence and the war in the Land of theArabian Nights. The generous praise and innumerablecourtesies which have been extended to us duringthis tour have been received by us on behalf ofthese eighteen nameless gentlemen. For it is tothem that the credit is due. In Europe, Americansare commonly regarded as mere worshipers of Mammon;yet these financiers are typical American businessmen, and if this book proves to be a contributionof value because it happens to be the only writtenfragmentary record of the most romantic campaignin modern history, then the credit belongs to theseunselfish, anonymous gentlemen of Chicago. Forhad it not been for them, the story of Colonel Lawrence’sachievements in Arabia might never have beentold, and might never have become widely knowneven among his own countrymen.
To Colonel John Buchan, who in those days wasone of the mysterious high priests of the Ministryof Information, I am indebted for the permit thatgot me out to Palesti