Bibliograph

Valiant ambition, George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the fate of the American Revolution, by Nathaniel Philbrick

Type

Label

Valiant ambition, George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the fate of the American Revolution, by Nathaniel Philbrick

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 375-403)

resource.biographical

collective biography

Illustrations

mapsillustrations

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Valiant ambition

Nature of contents

bibliography

Responsibility statement

by Nathaniel Philbrick

Sub title

George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the fate of the American Revolution

Summary

In September 1776, the vulnerable Continental Army under an unsure George Washington (who had never commanded a large force in battle) evacuates New York after a devastating defeat by the British Army. Three weeks later, near the Canadian border, one of his favorite generals, Benedict Arnold, miraculously succeeds in postponing the British naval advance down Lake Champlain that might have ended the war. Four years later, as the book ends, Washington has vanquished his demons and Arnold has fled to the enemy after a foiled attempt to surrender the American fortress at West Point to the British. After four years of war, America is forced to realize that the real threat to its liberties might not come from without but from within. Valiant Ambition is a complex, controversial, and dramatic portrait of a people in crisis and the war that gave birth to a nation. The focus is on loyalty and personal integrity, evoking a Shakespearean tragedy that unfolds in the key relationship of Washington and Arnold, who is an impulsive but sympathetic hero whose misfortunes at the hands of self-serving politicians fatally destroy his faith in the legitimacy of the rebellion. As a country wary of tyrants suddenly must figure out how it should be led, Washington’s unmatched ability to rise above the petty politics of his time enables him to win the war that really matters

Table Of Contents

Part I. The wilderness of untried things -- Demons of fear and disorder -- The mosquito fleet -- A cabinet of fortitude -- The year of the hangman -- The dark eagle -- Saratoga -- Part II. Secret motives and designs -- The bite of a rattlesnake -- The knight of the burning mountain -- Unmerciful fangs -- The chasm -- The pangs of a dying man -- The crash -- No time for remorse -- Epilogue: a nation of traitors

Target audience

adult

Classification