PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewPhilbrick skillfully depicts the sheer banality of Arnold’s greed and self-interest, revealing the roots of his downfall: one part psychology and one part sensibility to at least three parts circumstance ... In Valiant Ambition, Philbrick debunks certain treasured notions even while discerning their virtues. The resulting ambiguities may be best captured by the book’s sotto voce ending, with another general, Nathanael Greene, about to leave for the Southern campaign that we know will be won. At this point, I couldn’t help recalling Philbrick’s brief mention of Arnold’s plan, soon after his arrival in Philadelphia, to lead a naval attack on Bermuda and Barbados, which would have freed their slaves and enlisted them as privateers — a plan that, Philbrick argues, might have made him 'one of the immortal heroes of the Revolution.' But that would have been a rather different Revolution.
