Why is it called the Jeep? Depends on who you ask. Who first designed and developed this workhorse of the US military? Again, not a simple question to answer.

Decades after thousands of these historic and vital vehicles were shipped all over the world to transport American soldiers and cargo, its true origins were still shrouded in obscurity. Those shrouds have been lifted by author Paul Bruno, whose comprehensive and illuminating book, The Original Jeeps, should be considered the definitive history of the extraordinary process which led to the creation of the Jeep.

The bitter and destructive struggle in the Levant has a lengthy, complex and grievous history. No doubt the region has experienced its share of territorial bloodshed from ancient times. However, much of the conflict and hostility which has plagued it over the last century or so can be traced to the pacts made between European powers during and after the First World War. In that war, the Arab world fought together with British forces to overthrow the oppressive Ottoman Empire in exchange for the right to self-governance of its territory. Instead, Britain and other European countries divided the region into their own territories of influence.

A British archeologist turned intelligence officer, T.E. Lawrence, led and fought alongside those Arab fighters and became known as a hero. In 2006, while the 9/11 terrorist attacks were still fresh in the global memory, two adventurers, Wells Jones, and his teammate, Miles Spencer, decided to retrace Lawrence's desert route. Their mission: to gain some sort of perspective into the past and into the cultural conflicts that still haunt this region.

In this second episode with Wells, he discusses that journey and the resulting historical novel - A Line in the Sand: Adventures in Understanding with Magnus and Finn - with journalist Ernest Granson.

Many of our images of the First World War emanated from the trenches at the European front lines. But the war was not limited to those deplorable conditions. In the Mideast, another conflict seethed as the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire along with the Allied Powers of the British Empire, France, Russia, Italy and others fought to impose their spheres of influence. It was in this boiling cauldron, that a young Welsh archaeologist by the name of Thomas Edward Lawrence found himself. Lawrence was already intimately familiar with Arab customs and the language having participated in various archeological digs in the region. After enlisting in the British Army, he was catapulted into midst of the conflict as an intelligence officer and soon, leading a regiment of rebel Arab tribal fighters who engaged in guerilla warfare against the Turkish soldiers of the Ottoman Empire.

For former US Navy paratrooper and adventurer, Wells Jones, the story and journey of TE Lawrence through the Arabian desert was compelling enough for him to mount a similar route along with fellow adventurer, Miles Spence in 2005. Join Wells in conversation with Ernest Granson in this first of back-to-back podcasts examining Lawrence's life, Well's bold desert trek and the turbulence of the Mid East.