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Title details for Valiant Ambition by Nathaniel Philbrick - Available

Valiant Ambition

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

#2 in series

by Nathaniel Philbrick
Scott Brick
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
A New York Times Bestseller
Winner of the George Washington Prize
A surprising account of the middle years of the American Revolution and the tragic relationship between George Washington and Benedict Arnold, from the New York Times bestselling author of In The Heart of the Sea, Mayflower, and In the Hurricane's Eye.
"May be one of the greatest what-if books of the age—a volume that turns one of America’s best-known narratives on its head.”—Boston Globe
"Clear and insightful, [Valiant Ambition] consolidates Philbrick's reputation as one of America's foremost practitioners of narrative nonfiction."—Wall Street Journal
In the second book of his acclaimed American Revolution series, Nathaniel Philbrick turns to 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, 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. America was forced at last to realize that the real threat to its liberties might not come from without but from withinComplex, controversial, and dramatic, Valiant Ambition is a portrait of a people in crisis and the war that gave birth to a nation.

  • Creators

  • Series

    The American Revolution

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    May 10, 2016

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780147524393
      • File size: 383483 KB
      • Duration: 13:18:55

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This fascinating audiobook is further lifted by narrator Scott Brick's impressive performance. Author Nathaniel Philbrick manages to inject humanity into both George Washington and Benedict Arnold, going beyond their respective schoolbook roles of hero and traitor. Brick's dramatic style works well, especially when he is focused on Arnold, who was corrupt, greedy, and egotistical--he firmly believed that he was underappreciated and undercompensated by the Americans. As Arnold moved toward treachery, Washington--whom Philbrick portrays as a flawed general laboring under extreme pressures--maintained faith in him. Brick's theatrical narration distracts occasionally, but mostly suits. The times and the men, after all, combined for high drama. Brick's rendition captures it well. G.S.D. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from February 15, 2016
      By recounting inconvenient truths, including “how patriotic zeal had lapsed into cynicism and self-interest,” Philbrick (Mayflower) once again casts new light on a period of American history with which many readers may assume familiarity. He relates the four years of the Revolutionary War (1776–1780) in a compulsively readable and fascinating narrative, prefacing his account with a provocative description of what really happened during the American Revolution, which was “so troubling and strange that once the struggle was over, a generation did its best to remove all traces of the truth.” Philbrick makes vivid and memorable the details of numerous military engagements and reliably punctures any preconceptions that the rebels’ victory was inevitable. Eye-openers abound, such as how British general John Burgoyne’s use of Native American warriors backfired, as “even more than their love of liberty, the New Englanders’ multigenerational fear of native peoples was what finally moved them to rise up and extirpate” the British. Balancing his portrayals of the protagonists, Philbrick presents Washington’s weaknesses as a military commander without apology and contextualizes Arnold’s eventual betrayal of his country in the context of a long list of slights against him. Philbrick’s deep scholarship, nuanced analysis, and novelistic storytelling add up to another triumph. Maps.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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