Seven Pillars of Wisdom

T. E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia, gives an autobiographical account of his service as a British military adviser to Bedouin forces in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire from 1916 to 1918. Based at Wadi Rum and backed by Emir Faisal and his tribesmen, he helped organize raids on the Ottomans across a front stretching from Aqaba north to Damascus. He lost most of a draft changing trains at Reading around Christmas 1919, and the book was rewritten three times. Its title, from the Book of Proverbs, was first meant for a prewar study of seven great Middle Eastern cities. A version for American readers, Revolt in the Desert, was the only one sold in his lifetime.

James Mattis included it on the list of favorite books in an appendix to Call Sign Chaos.