Williamsburg Regional Library

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

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-403) and index

collective biography

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index present

non fiction

Valiant ambition

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933729300

Nathaniel Philbrick

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

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

Preface: The fault line -- Part I: The wilderness of untried things -- Chapter One: Demons of fear and disorder -- Chapter Two: The mosquito effect -- Chapter Three: A cabinet of fortitude -- Chapter Four: The year of the hangman -- Chapter Five: The dark eagle -- Chapter Six: Saratoga -- Part II: Secret motives and designs -- Chapter Seven: The bite of a rattlesnake -- Chapter Eight: The knight of the burning mountain -- Chapter Nine: Unmerciful fangs -- Chapter Ten: The chasm -- Chapter Eleven: The pangs of a dying man -- Chapter Twelve: The crash -- Chapter Thirteen: No time for remorse -- Epilogue: A nation of traitors

adult