GOD SAVE BENEDICT ARNOLD

An invitation to accompany America's most notorious traitor and weigh him in the balance.

Kelly, author of Valcour and The Edge of Anarchy, presents the complete story of Benedict Arnold (1741-1801), one of the Revolutionary War's most brilliant strategists, including the personal and professional slights (real and imagined) that drove him to commit the act of treason that made him infamous. The author weaves Arnold's upbringing into the narrative of the American uprising against the British, focusing in particular on his keen business acumen, invaluable experiences as a trader on the high seas, and his father’s alcoholic downfall (“one of the key passages of [his] life”), which sidetracked his formal education and fueled a lifelong sensitivity to insults and disrespect. Kelly's accounts of Arnold-led land battles, marches, and naval operations are vividly descriptive, placing readers alongside Arnold and his men to feel the harrowing tension, physical courage, and bravery of those involved. Especially deft are the author’s portraits of Arnold's march through the Maine wilderness en route to invade Quebec, the taking of Fort Ticonderoga, and the Battle of Saratoga (his military apex). Kelly also excels in detailing the stinginess with which the Continental Congress allotted funds and supplies and determined promotion and rank. Arnold’s fragile ego and sense of honor were routinely wounded as individuals he considered inferior took credit for his strategies and victories and were elevated in rank and esteem. Kelly also ably explains Arnold's relationship with George Washington, who, more than most, recognized his genius and importance to the American cause and interceded with Congress on Arnold's behalf during court-martials and inquiries. The author chronicles Washington's supreme anguish after his firsthand discovery of Arnold's treachery and explains how they became polar opposites in the hearts and minds of Americans.

A dazzling addition to the history of the American Revolution.