| wyeayeman | 20 Oct 2017 12:20 p.m. PST |
My mate Steve Brumwell has a new book coming out. April 2018
link |
| Pan Marek | 20 Oct 2017 1:21 p.m. PST |
Read the synopsis. Your mate has a hard row to how with that premise. It will be interesting to see what he used as sources for such. |
Joes Shop  | 20 Oct 2017 2:10 p.m. PST |
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| USAFpilot | 20 Oct 2017 2:54 p.m. PST |
Arnold was a hero before he was a traitor. |
| Leadjunky | 20 Oct 2017 6:44 p.m. PST |
Hmm… I know. I will betray the cause to save lives. In ten year's time I'll be celebrated as a hero and maybe even knighted. Well it coulda worked, but I like the greed and unappreciated theories better. |
| 23rdFusilier | 20 Oct 2017 6:45 p.m. PST |
Or many authors like to inflate his achievements to make his treason worse then it was. The more I read i cannot help but think Arnold was grossly over rated. |
| Winston Smith | 20 Oct 2017 7:26 p.m. PST |
He had many post facto justifications for his treason.
He even claimed it was disapproval over the alliance with papist France. I like the story of the time George III tried to present him to the Earl of Balcarres, his "opposite number" at Saratoga. "Brothers in arms, met on the battlefield blah blah blah."
Balcarres recoiled, refused to shake his hand and exclaimed, "What? The traitor?"
Nice. Even the British disliked him. |
 gaiusrabirius | 20 Oct 2017 8:30 p.m. PST |
Yale University Press? I won't dismiss the scholarship and argument out of hand. But, I agree with Pan Marek – "a hard row." |
| wyeayeman | 21 Oct 2017 3:08 a.m. PST |
Gaius. Steves scholarship is impeccable. |
| Supercilius Maximus | 21 Oct 2017 10:49 a.m. PST |
Arnold was a hero before he was a traitor. Other way round, surely? ;^) I agree with 23rd Fusilier that Arnold was over-rated as a battlefield commander – in particular, losing the Lake Champlain fleet after it had already done its job (ie forcing the British to halt for several weeks to build their own fleet capable of taking it on). The actual battle delayed the British a whole 24 hours and made no impact whatsoever on British plans to take Ticonderoga before the winter. |
| Winston Smith | 21 Oct 2017 12:51 p.m. PST |
I regret to say that the story about Earl Balcarres and Arnold is myth. I googled it last night, and, alas, it isn't true. Back to our regular programming. |
| Normal Guy | 22 Oct 2017 4:39 a.m. PST |
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| historygamer | 22 Oct 2017 11:47 a.m. PST |
Brunwell's works are always worth reading. Are you all familiar with his previous works or just sounding off on your opinions of Arnold? link |
| Winston Smith | 22 Oct 2017 12:32 p.m. PST |
Meh, just sounding off. 
Let's face it. Putting a positive spin on Arnold is a difficult task. Calling someone "Benedict Arnold" is an instantly recognizable insult, even to someone 95% clueless about him. Who else is a more famous traitor? Judas? Probably. Kim Philby? Probably not. |
| Father Grigori | 22 Oct 2017 2:31 p.m. PST |
I read in one of the Osprey campaign series books, possibly Saratoga, that Arnold was the only Patriot senior officer who wasn't a Mason. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but if it was, then pique at being passed over after Saratoga and a feeling of being excluded from the club as it were, would be a plausible reason for his treason to the cause. |
| Old Contemptibles | 23 Oct 2017 10:36 a.m. PST |
It was always about him and not the country. Had he been a British officer from the start and if he believed he was being treated wrong by the British, he would have jumped to the Rebel side. |
| seneffe | 23 Oct 2017 12:55 p.m. PST |
I remember a 1940s Hollywood comedy called 'George Washington slept here' about a newlywed couple who buy a colonial period house with a supposedly illustrious history, but encounter endless trouble and expense doing it up (think it was re-made by Tom Hanks in the ?90s).
The final straw for the couple was when a helpful local historian's research showed that rather than George Washington- it was actually Benedict Arnold who had overnighted there back in the day…..
Still- I think I'll buy the book. |
| Rudysnelson | 23 Oct 2017 3:42 p.m. PST |
Amazon is a plague on local stores which puts a lot of them out of business. Walmart gutted face to face sales in the 1980s. Now Amazon is doing the same.
I never buy from Amazon. |
greenknight4  | 19 Nov 2017 2:59 p.m. PST |
Ha – OK I may just be throwing gas on this fire but when I read Killing England and for review on my book site the author or authors :) covered Arnold with a certain degree of depth. They touched on a number of facts about him that I wasn't aware of, to name a few his very young wife, being terribly in depth and his terribly deformed leg from all the damage he took. Interesting character and interesting thread this. link I would enjoy reading this new book for review but it isn't available yet I guess?
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| Old Contemptibles | 20 Nov 2017 10:11 a.m. PST |
Previous discussion concerning this book. TMP link |
receives a gift from his wife…
