What We’re Reading: George Johnson
Here, we share what Moment editors are reading and watching, from news to novels. Up this week is senior editor George Johnson, who recently explored the Jewish origins of the evil eye for our September/October issue. Johnson has been immersed in the literature and history of World War I of late, in honor of its 100th anniversary.
Lawrence in Arabia (not of Arabia), by Scott Anderson. This history of the World War I takes an unusual perspective: the war for the Ottoman Empire and the unexpected roles four intelligence agents played in it. T.E. Lawrence is the young British officer who formed his own Arab armies to defeat the Turks; Kurt Prüfer is a German agent who schemed to bring the Arabs to the German side; William Yale is an American oilman-turned US military intelligence liaison; and Aaron Aaronsohn is a Palestinian-Jewish agronomist who organized...