Benedict Arnold's Navy: The Ragtag Fleet That Lost the Battle of Lake Champlain But Won the American Revolution - James Nelson

Did America's most despised traitor actually help win the Revolutionary War? Covering one of history's great tipping point battles, award-winning author Nelson recounts the courageous and exemplary campaign of Arnold and his cobbled-together fleet against the British in the Battle of Valcour Island (Lake Champlain) in October 1776. n nAn epic story of one man's devotion to the American causen nIn 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.n nBenedict 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.n nPraise for James L. Nelson: n nJames Nelson is a master both of his period and of the English language. n --Patrick O'Brian, author of Master and Commandern nJames 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. n --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 Historyn nIt 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... n --Bernard Cornwell on Glory in the Name, winner of the W. Y. Boyd Literary Awardn