Rövid leírás:

An epic story of one man?s devotion to the American cause

In October 1776, four years before Benedict Arnold?s treasonous attempt to hand control of the Hudson River to the British, his patch-work fleet on Lake Champlain was all that stood between British forces and a swift end to the American rebellion.

Benedict Arnold?s Navy is the dramatic chronicle of that desperate battle and of the extraordinary events that occurred on the American Revolution?s critical northern front. Written with captivating narrative vitality, this landmark book shows how Benedict Arnold?s fearless leadership against staggering odds in a northern wilderness secured for America the independence that he would later try to betray.

Praise for James L. Nelson:

"James Nelson is a master both of his period and of the English language."
--Patrick O'Brian, author of Master and Commander

"James L. Nelson tells this story with clarity and literary skill and with such ease and order that the reader feels he is attending a dissertation on history given by a consummate lecturer."
--Ron Berthel, Associated Press, on Reign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads, winner of the American Library Association?s 2004 Award for Best Military History

"It is, by far, the best Civil War novel I?ve read; reeking of battle, duty, heroism and tragedy. It?s a triumph of imagination and good, taut writing . . . "
--Bernard Cornwell on Glory in the Name, winner of the W. Y. Boyd Literary Award

His name is synonymous with treason, yet few men did more to prevent America?s defeat in 1776

The story of America?s fight for independence has been dominated by accounts from the battlefieldswhere George Washington fought the British, but one of the most critical and least rememberedbattles of 1776 was a bloody, lopsided fight on a wilderness lake hundreds of miles north. In a war marked by improbable turning points, that one naval battle would, in the end, prove the key to America's ultimate victory.

Award-winning historian James L. Nelson weaves a thrilling narrative around the Battle of Valcour Island, in which a cobbled-together American fleet, led by the bold and resourceful Arnold, stood up to the might of the British navy, only to be destroyed in the end by overwhelming odds. Setting the desperate battle in its context, Benedict Arnold ?s Navy describes the strategic importance of the Hudson River and Lake Champlain, the ambitious and largely successful American invasion of Quebec in 1775, and the bloody retreat of the following year. The one-year delay of the subsequent British invasion from Canada won by Arnold?s gallant, overmatched fleet made possible an American triumph in the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, the first significant victory of the Revolution. This success finally convinced France to join America in arms and turned the tide of war.

Using storytelling skills honed by a dozen novels, including the popular Revolution at Sea Saga and the W. Y. Boyd Award-winning Glory in the Name, Nelson brings to life a new image of Benedict Arnold. He is not the vainglorious traitor of popular imagination but a fearless and talented officer, a favorite of General Washington, and a man who, in thirty months of fighting, led troops into hell and back.

This suspenseful drama is a salutary reminder that the American Revolution between 1775 and 1778 was a two-front war. Benedict Arnold ?s Navy is a much needed look at the less-celebrated front to the north, where armies clashed in the wilderness and on the cold waters of Lake Champlain in battles that would determine the outcome of the war as surely as the fighting at Trenton and Yorktown.

Hosszú leírás:

An epic story of one man?s devotion to the American cause

In October 1776, four years before Benedict Arnold?s treasonous attempt to hand control of the Hudson River to the British, his patch-work fleet on Lake Champlain was all that stood between British forces and a swift end to the American rebellion.

Benedict Arnold?s Navy is the dramatic chronicle of that desperate battle and of the extraordinary events that occurred on the American Revolution?s critical northern front. Written with captivating narrative vitality, this landmark book shows how Benedict Arnold?s fearless leadership against staggering odds in a northern wilderness secured for America the independence that he would later try to betray.

Praise for James L. Nelson:

"James Nelson is a master both of his period and of the English language."
--Patrick O'Brian, author of Master and Commander

"James L. Nelson tells this story with clarity and literary skill and with such ease and order that the reader feels he is attending a dissertation on history given by a consummate lecturer."
--Ron Berthel, Associated Press, on Reign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads, winner of the American Library Association?s 2004 Award for Best Military History

"It is, by far, the best Civil War novel I?ve read; reeking of battle, duty, heroism and tragedy. It?s a triumph of imagination and good, taut writing . . . "
--Bernard Cornwell on Glory in the Name, winner of the W. Y. Boyd Literary Award

An epic story of one man?s devotion to the American cause

In October 1776, four years before Benedict Arnold?s treasonous attempt to hand control of the Hudson River to the British, his patch-work fleet on Lake Champlain was all that stood between British forces and a swift end to the American rebellion.

Benedict Arnold?s Navy is the dramatic chronicle of that desperate battle and of the extraordinary events that occurred on the American Revolution?s critical northern front. Written with captivating narrative vitality, this landmark book shows how Benedict Arnold?s fearless leadership against staggering odds in a northern wilderness secured for America the independence that he would later try to betray.

Praise for James L. Nelson:

"James Nelson is a master both of his period and of the English language."
--Patrick O'Brian, author of Master and Commander

"James L. Nelson tells this story with clarity and literary skill and with such ease and order that the reader feels he is attending a dissertation on history given by a consummate lecturer."
--Ron Berthel, Associated Press, on Reign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads, winner of the American Library Association?s 2004 Award for Best Military History

"It is, by far, the best Civil War novel I?ve read; reeking of battle, duty, heroism and tragedy. It?s a triumph of imagination and good, taut writing . . . "
--Bernard Cornwell on Glory in the Name, winner of the W. Y. Boyd Literary Award

Tartalomjegyzék:

Map
PROLOGUE: October 11, 1776
1775
CHAPTER 1 The War Begins
CHAPTER 2 The Road to Ticonderoga
CHAPTER 3 A Gathering of Strength
CHAPTER 4 The Taking of Ticonderoga
CHAPTER 5 To the Victors
CHAPTER 6 The Northern Theater
CHAPTER 7 A Change in Command
CHAPTER 8 Command of the Northern Department
CHAPTER 9 North to Quebec
CHAPTER 10 Invading Canada
CHAPTER 11 Into the Wilderness
CHAPTER 12 Montreal
CHAPTER 13 The March to Quebec
CHAPTER 14 Quebec Besieged
CHAPTER 15 Forces Joined
CHAPTER 16 The Attack on Quebec
Photographs and Illustrations
1776
CHAPTER 17 The Aftermath
CHAPTER 18 A Frozen War
CHAPTER 19 The Early Fleet
CHAPTER 20 The Commission to Canada
CHAPTER 21 "God of Armies, Help Us"
CHAPTER 22 "An Army Broken"
CHAPTER 23 Three Rivers
CHAPTER 24 Birth of Two Fleets
CHAPTER 25 The Gondolas of Skenesborough
CHAPTER 26 The Summer of 1776
CHAPTER 27 A Most Deserving and Gallant Officer
CHAPTER 28 The Fleet Comes Together
CHAPTER 29 Arnold in Command
CHAPTER 30 A Line of Battle
CHAPTER 31 A Place to Make a Stand
CHAPTER 32 The British Head South
CHAPTER 33 The Battle of Valcour Island
CHAPTER 34 "The Battle was Verrey Hot"
CHAPTER 35 South Wind and Open Water
CHAPTER 36 End of the Campaign Season
CHAPTER 37 Winter Quarters
1777
CHAPTER 38 The Road to Saratoga
CHAPTER 39 Saratoga
EPILOGUE: Turning Points
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
NOTES ON SOURCES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX