Before Benedict Arnold was branded a traitor; he was one of the colonies' most valuable leaders. In September 1775; eleven hundred soldiers boarded ships in Massachusetts; bound for the Maine wilderness. They had volunteered for a secret mission; under Arnold's command to march and paddle nearly two hundred miles and seize British Quebec. Before they reached the Canadian border; hundreds died; a hurricane destroyed canoes and equipment and many deserted. In the midst of a howling blizzard; the remaining troops attacked Quebec and almost took Canada from the British simultaneously weakening the British hand against Washington. With the enigmatic Benedict Arnold at its center; Tom Desjardin has written one of the great American adventure stories.
#2584579 in Books 2000-08-05Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.50 x .33 x 5.50l; .47 #File Name: 0312233043150 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Quite good; if you're mostly interested in diplomacyBy PolymathThis book is essentially a diplomatic history of the war; including before; and a little after the fighting. After finishing reading the book; I checked back and judged that fewer than a dozen pages (less than ten percent of the book) discussed actual military operations. For example; Task Force Smith is not even mentioned; and the Inchon landing is covered in a couple of sentences. Similarly with the UN retreat after the Chinese intervention--from the book; I hardly knew it happened. Since I've read several books on the Korean War; I could fill in the blanks on the military moves; and I did learn much new about the diplomatic and political environment of the times. However; this book is in a series about 20th Century WARS; and I feel wars are more than just ten percent about fighting. Other books in the series certainly spend more time on combat. So my judgment is; if you want a good; brief introduction to the diplomatic background of the Korean War; get this book; if you want to learn something at all in depth about the military moves; you will need to get another book as well.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Amazingly fine book depite being so shortBy Karl G. LarewIt's good to see the war from a British perspective. Content and style are superb. It is amazing that Lowe can pack so much information and depth of insight into such a small book.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Useful for a few statistics; but the quality of scholarship is poor.By Zachary EndterThe book lazily misinterprets information to draw grandiose conclusions. For instance; Lowe claims that NSC-68 would have made Stalin aware of the US' likely reaction to North Korean encroachments; but it was not approved by Truman until after the Korean War began. Lowe ridiculously claims that the servicing of Korean airplanes a month before invasion indicates a lack of cooperation between Stalin and Kim Il Sung. How does he logically go from A to B? The world might never know.
