Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution (Wheeler Hardcover) - Hardcover

Philbrick, Nathaniel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1410489507 ISBN 13: 9781410489500

Publisher: Wheeler Publishing Large Print, 2016

Synopsis

A New York Times Bestselling Author
A National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist

From the author of National Book Award winner In the Heart of the Sea comes a surprising account of the middle years of the American Revolution and the tragic relationship between George Washington and Benedict Arnold.

About this title

Review

An Amazon Best Book of May 2016: I spent early summers running around Valley Forge in Pennsylvania and my later childhood years living next door to Lexington, Massachusetts, where the first battle of the American Revolution was fought—so I thought I had a pretty good handle on the war. Philbrick proved me wrong with his fascinating history of the years from 1776 to 1780, when the new country teetered between victory and disaster, its destiny influenced by George Washington and Benedict Arnold. Both generals were audacious—Washington and Arnold jumped into situations risky both to themselves and to the soldiers who fought for them. Both generals suffered indignities at the hands of the Continental Congress, a body riven by its own politics and hamstrung by its inability to set taxes on its citizens. But while Washington learned to temper his aggressiveness, sought others’ wisdom, and developed a strategy for winning the war, Arnold remained self-centered and self-aggrandizing, focusing on the tactical to the detriment of the larger goal—culminating in his decision in 1780 to turn coat and deliver the fortress at West Point to the British army. Philbrick’s eye for the illuminating detail and his clear writing keeps the story taut, unlike many history books that too often overwhelm the reader with a sludge of see-I-did-my-research prose. Riveting and relevant, Valiant Ambition explodes the myth that a triumphant revolution was inevitable. --Adrian Liang

About the Author

Nathaniel Philbrick is the author of "In the Heart of the Sea," winner of the National Book Award; "Mayflower," finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; "Bunker Hill," winner of the New England Book Award;" Sea of Glory"; "The Last Stand"; "Why Read Moby Dick?"; and "Away Off Shore." He lives in Nantucket.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wheeler Publishing Large Print
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1410489507
• ISBN 13: 9781410489500
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 860