"Arundel by Kenneth Roberts" Topic

"Arundel is a work of historical fiction by Kenneth Roberts. Despite it being nearly 500 pages in length, it doesn't take all that long to read. Roberts manages to pack in a lot of excitement into his story line. In retrospect this is a bit surprising since a big chunk of the book involves trudging through a swampy wilderness.

Roberts' story provides an interesting contrast to the villainous depiction of Benedict Arnold commonly portrayed. Arundel takes place at the very beginning of the American Revolution and revolves around Arnold's campaign to take Quebec. The Arnold Roberts describes is an energetic and inspiring leader. He is also extremely ambitious.

Because Arnold did not succeed in capturing Quebec, the scope of his achievement is largely overlooked. Arnold managed to take his army through some of the most brutal terrain imaginable (350 miles) and his failure to take Quebec was not due to any lack of energy on his part, but rather due to a variety of causes outside of his control, including bad weather conditions, ammunition shortages, near starvation, and difficulties in coordinating with Montgomery…"
Full review here
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Amicalement
Armand

The real reason was all revealed in a recent episode of "Sleepy Hollow".

Arundel is wonderful literature, but it is far from balanced or completely accurate. Despite Arnold's noble efforts, as portrayed in the book, small-minded individuals keep tripping him up. The truth is considerably different from such a simplistic and seductive narrative.

E.G., While he was military governor of Philadelphia, Arnold pilfered funds which were to go to the care of recuperating soldiers in order to keep up the lavish life-style that his Tory wife, Peggy Shippen, demanded.

If you read Arundel. you should follow up with the sequel – 'A Rabble in Arms.' It continues the action through the end of the campaigns in the North.

Again a pro-Arnold slant, but still a good read.

Read both of them in early high school. Got a lot of history (as such) that didn't get covered in classes.

For a nice pro-Loyalist slant, read his "Oliver Wiswell".

Hear, hear.