Thamsanqa Jantjie’s sign-language gibberish at Nelson Mandela’s funeral stole headlines, offended many, and raised real alarm, but isn’t there something to be gained from seeing the tablecloth yanked out from beneath settled social consensus?

How do you mourn a man like Mandela? The news crews and somber dignitaries did it one way; the locals—dancing, singing, selling memorabilia—did it quite another.

The American novelist and war correspondent talks about his gripping new book, Lawrence in Arabia, and situates the much mythologized British leader of the Arab Revolt in the broader context of World War I, and the dark, often duplicitous maneuvers on its Eastern Front.