This is the true story of how three British Secret Service agents from the Arab Bureau in Cairo helped General Allenby defeat Germany’s ally, the Turks, and end World War One. Lawrence of Arabia reignited a failing Arab Revolt by training and leading a guerrilla force of Arab irregulars to take the port of Aqaba on the Red Sea. John Harte’s book - as well as focusing on a critical moment that David Lean featured in his famous film in which young Captain Lawrence discovers a secret back door into the Turkish interior - also describes the forgotten nomadic life of the Bedouin tribes and their raiding parties, the founding of oil-rich Saudi Arabia led by King Ibn Saud, and his double-agent, the treacherous Major St John Philby whom spymaster Major Gertrude Bell of the SIS had trained in spy-craft.

John Harte was born in London, England after World War 1, when he absorbed the controversies and lessons of that war which historians puzzled over for years afterwards. He then watched each milestone leading to World War 2, in which he served, and lived in England throughout. In postwar years he became an investigative journalist in England and South Africa, where he visited the battle zones of the Boer War. He was a director of companies in the UK, South Africa, and Canada. This is Harte’s second book about Sir Winston Churchill, after How Churchill Saved Civilization (Skyhorse, 2017). He lives and writes books on modern history in Ottawa, Canada. Visit his website at johnhartebooks.com.

John Harte's profile page

The current war in Syria has dwarfed all serious academic study of the pre-Ba’ath era. This has left a new generation of scholars with no new literature about the formative years of the Syrian state, which the notable exception of James Barr’s highly acclaimed A Line in the Sand (2011). This is why John Hart’s new book is important, shedding light on British conspiracy—and agents—who shape the modern Middle East. It focuses on the careers and contributions of three individuals, Gertrude Bell, John Philby, and TE Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia. Skeptics will argue that they have been studied in the past, but never in one book, however, and not with the hindsight of 100-years, packaged in a gripping manner that will appeal to 21st century readers.

—Sami Moubayed, historian and founding chairman of The Damascus History Foundation

The Passionate Spies by John Harte is an extraordinary and thrilling read about three secret agents in Britain's Secret Service, who organized and led the "Arab Revolt" in 1917. It gave independence to new Arab-speaking nations in the Middle East and founded oil-rich Saudi Arabia. The colourful characters of spymaster Gertrude Bell (the first female officer in the British Army), the legendary "Lawrence of Arabia," and the astute traitor St. John Philby (father of the notorious KGB double-spy Kim Philby) are all so dynamic that their heroics are hard to believe, but nevertheless true and soundly researched by a perceptive author who depicts them for us in stylish prose. I found it hard to put down with its thrilling twists and turns and surprises, and amazing characters.

—Steve Harris, America's Secret History