MAR19. Includes bibliographical references (p. 375-403) and index.
Summary:
From the New York Times bestselling historian comes a surprising account of the Revolution and the tragic relationship between George Washington and Benedict Arnold. In September 1776, the vulnerable Continental army under an unsure George Washington evacuated 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 succeeded in postponing the British naval advance down Lake Champlain that might have lost the war. As this book ends, four years later Washington has vanquished his demons, and Arnold has fled to the enemy after a foiled attempt to surrender the fortress at West Point to the British. America was forced at last to realize that the real threat to its liberties might not come from without but from within. By deftly intertwining the stories of Washington and Arnold, Nathaniel Philbrick reveals the dark path America traveled during its revolution while challenging some of our most celebrated narratives. Complex, controversial, and dramatic, VALIANT AMBITION is a portrait of a people in crisis and the war that gave birth to a nation.
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