Almost finished the "Palestine" chapter of Margaret Macmillan's Paris 1919 last night. Those familiar with the book will know that the end is near.
While Clemenceau (France), Lloyd-George (Britain), Wilson (US) and Orlando (Italy) authored the Treaty of Versailles, it is lesser-known figures like Gabriele D'Annunzio (Italy), Gertrude Bell (Britain), T.E. Lawrence (Britain) and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (Turkey) who steal the show. But that's often the case with epics, and why the Academy Awards came up with its one-of-a-kind Best Supporting Actor(s) categories.
All of these figures are immensely quotable. Here is one from Lawrence, whose wartime adventures were popularized by American journalist Lowell Thomas, who covered Lawrence's work with the Hashemites in what is known today as Jordan:
To have news value is to have a tin can tied to one's tail.
I would like to see a proper sequel to Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962), this time with greater emphasis on Bell and King Faisal I (of Iraq), as well as Abdulaziz (Ibn Saud). I would also like to see the story told from a different angle or angles. For example, in All the Shah's Men (2003), we learn that while Britain was pumping oil out of Persia/Iran its Persian/Irani workers were living in mud huts. And yes, a film on Mohammad Mossadeq too.
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