Review: The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery

The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery
The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery by Steve Sheinkin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Everyone knows the the name, but how well-known is the story? Above all, The Notorious Benedict Arnold is an excellently crafted and remarkably compelling story of one man’s hubris.

Reading Steve Sheinkin’s historical non-fiction volume uncovers Arnold as an undeniable hero of the American Revolution. His audacity, skill, and considerable luck all converge to make him an extraordinary military force in the early days of America’s revolt. His initial mission to Fort Ticonderoga alone is an adventure story worthy of its own treatment. Yet that is only the beginning of the dramatic wake that cast by Arnold’s meteoric rise and ignominious fall.

While considered a young adult title, this book transcends that label on a number of levels. It reads like a novel, includes first-person accounts, and is well resourced. Perhaps Sheinkin’s greatest feat is his successful portrayal of Arnold as a sympathetic, albeit severely flawed individual. No doubt, Arnold was not always recognized or treated fairly in a highly politically charged climate. What’s more it was his capacity to hold grudges and feel scorned that led to his undoing. Still, Sheinkin certainly makes the case for his being the subject of a great story and an even greater fall.

While Arnold invited a lot of his own trouble, that only serves to make him even more interesting and compelling. To say Arnold lived a full life is understatement. Even the melodrama of his ultimate unraveling, missing his most ardent supporter, George Washington, by mere minutes makes for a fantastic story alone, and Sheinkin relates it with relish. Even the aftermath of Arnold’s betrayal draws a degree of sympathy, making him all the more powerful as a cautionary tale.

Although I typically like historical non-fiction generally, as well as biographies, I enjoyed this book even more than I expected. It was a fascinating view into a historical figure that everyone knows but doesn’t know much about. Ultimately, Sheinkin squeezes out the formalities and dogma of historical writing in favor of action, adventure, and ripping good yarn, a major factor in it being considered a young adult title, but it makes it all the more readable and enjoyable.

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Keeping Active Despite the Snow

Cute as  ButtonWell there is still plenty of snow on the ground, although we did fortunately avoid another heavy fall predicted earlier in the week. It has even gotten a little warmer of late to help melt a little of the few feet surrounding us. Now, we are just hoping for a nice long, slow thaw to avoid all of the potential flooding. Still, we have been pretty well confined the indoors, which is a little hard on the kiddos, although they are hanging in there.

Reading Early Drawing Large Hanging Out Indoors

They have been making the most of the indoor activities, like reading and coloring. Of course they do get stir crazy at times and we try to run them around outside, despite the snow being deep enough to lose them. This generally leave at least one of them looking like this.

Dead Tired

Reflecting on the Rebuild

I have to say that having a few days to tinker and rebuild fritzwinkle.com has been a bit of a joy. It has been something that I have been wanting to do for sometime.

Over the summer, I conceived of making a big switch and redoing the whole thing, but it didn’t happen. Instead, I got busy doing other things and, for the first time in awhile, just trying to enjoy some of the summer free from work. Of course, I did get myself involved in somethings that took up some time too.

Unfortunately, I had made some miscalculations with the domain name, which rendered everything offline for a bit. That forced me to have to go into a waiting mode, until that got itself worked out. I also have a tendency to get myself quite wrapped up in various projects and classes while teaching full time, as well. This has always made maintaining the site a challenge.

On the plus side, I have been riding a little bit of a website development wave. From tuning things with the various sites I have been using with students, as well as developing the new sites for both the Massachusetts Writing Project and Boston Writing Project. These autumn activities made for a quicker transition once I had everything ready. Plus, I had a lot more knowledge and understanding at the forefront of my mind since I was using it more regularly. This made it kind of fun and it didn’t take forever, which best of all.

Photo: Fall Kids

Fall Kids at Play

Now, as always, I just hope I can keep things updated and fresh, which has always been a challenge.