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    The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery
    Unavailable
    The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery
    Unavailable
    The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery
    Audiobook6 hours

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

    Written by Steve Sheinkin

    Narrated by Mark Bramhall

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    On a bitter cold day in January 1741 Benedict Arnold was born. Little did anyone know that he would grow up to become the most infamous villain in American history. But first, he would be one of the country's greatest war heroes. Fearless in the line of fire, a genius at strategy and motivating his men, General Arnold was America's first action hero. But his thirst for recognition would ultimately be his undoing. Hopeless at political maneuvers, prone to outbursts of ego and temper, Arnold saw his fame slowly slipping away. And so, he came up with a plan that would guarantee his place in history . . .

    Packed with gripping first-person accounts, astonishing battle scenes, and shocking betrayals, this accessible biography proves that there's more than one side to every good story.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJul 10, 2012
    ISBN9780449014974
    Unavailable
    The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery
    Author

    Steve Sheinkin

    Steve Sheinkin is the acclaimed author of fast-paced, cinematic nonfiction histories, including Fallout, Undefeated, Born to Fly, The Port Chicago 50, and Bomb. His accolades include a Newbery Honor, three Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards, a Sibert Medal and Honor, and three National Book Award finalist honors. He lives in Saratoga Springs, New York, with his wife and two children.

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    Reviews for The Notorious Benedict Arnold

    3.5/5

    129 ratings20 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Wow I had no idea that that person would be the villain!
    • 4/5
      Eleanor Hibbert was a remarkable writer who wrote over 200 books under numerous pen names. She wrote historical fiction under the name of Jean Plaidy. As Victoria Holt she wrote 32 gothic romances from the 1960s into the 1990s. The Shivering Sand] is a gothic novel that takes place in the late 1800s. All of the gothic elements are there; a creepy mansion, a brooding but handsome son of the manor, mysteries deaths, and a young widow who has come to this strange family as a piano teacher. The plot twists and turns and although I had an idea who the killer was it wasn't obvious. One of Victoria Holt's earlier gothics, it was written in 1969, and has the gothic feel popular during that time.
    • 5/5
      Wow I had no idea that that person would be the villain!
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed the book. It kept me in suspense until the end. I kind of wish the ending was wriiten a little more in depth.
    • 4/5
      I read this for the Crime Fiction of the Year (1969) Challenge, a meme housed at Past Offences.In my younger days I read lots of Victoria Holt, and so I wanted to see whether for me this title weathered the test of time.Perhaps unsurprisingly I found the plot developed much more slowly than it would in a more recently written novel. There are very heavy Gothic overtones right from the beginning: the black sheep of the family who accidentally murdered his elder, popular, handsome elder brother, banished to Australia but now summoned to return by his dying father to marry his father's ward; the mysterious disappearance of Caroline's sister from an archaeological dig; a building destroyed by fire where lights now show at night.One of the aspects of the plot that has interested me is the actual time setting of the story. I have come across a reference to the vicar being appointed in 1888 so I am assuming it is all late 19th century. There are other factors that reinforce this: the curate goes off to Africa as a missionary, the main mode of transportation is horseback or trap, and there are no mentions of the dislocations that World War One will later cause.So is this crime fiction? It is a question I constantly asked myself as I was reading. Certainly crimes have been committed - there is no doubt right from the beginning that Napier killed his brother Beau, accident or not, and these days that would have led to a homicide trial, rather than a retribution exacted by his father. And there are two other unexplained disappearances. But this is much more Gothic romance, closer to Daphne du Maurier and Georgette Heyer rather than Agatha Christie. The ending made me think of Edgar Allen Poe.And here is an author that eventually led me on to crime fiction addiction.
    • 2/5
      ??1/2 rounded down to ??

      Caroline (Caro) Verlaine, a young widow, needs to find a way to earn a living teaching piano, but at the same time her sister, Roma, and archaeologist, has disappeared while working on a ruin elsewhere in England. Her former piano teacher retires from her last job and arranged for Caroline to take it over, and Caroline is happy to move because it’s in the same area that her sister disappeared. Once there, she is swept up in the antics of a dysfunctional family with a dark past; a brother accidentally shot, a mother who had committed suicide; her students including a half gypsy love child living in the home with Edith, the young wife of the mysterious Napier, and Alice, the daughter of the housekeeper; the mad sister, once thwarted in love, of the owner of the house who paints portraits of people the way she thinks they are; mysterious lights at night and so on. Caroline’s fourth student is Sylvia, the daughter of the vicar.

      Victoria Holt was one of the authors who got gothic romantic suspense rolling, and this is one from 1969. I loved in when in high school, but it didn’t live up to my current reading likes. I neither liked nor disliked Caroline and felt that some of the other characters, such as Alice, were not particularly believable. I read this for a challenge because of the word shivering in the title.
    • 5/5
      OK, call me a history buff, but Ioved this true story, nonfiction told in such an engaging way. It read like great historical fiction. Sheinkin does not seem to judge his character, but lays him bare, warts and all. Of course warts are what we remember when Arnold's name is mentioned. Before reading this book, I didn't know he had also been a Revolutionary War hero, and that he actually died in England, not at the end of a rope in America. If this were read in a U. S. History class, it would be a winner, especially with guys. I want to read more by this author.
    • 4/5
      An excellent children’s biography of Benedict Arnold! I loved the way Sheinkin allowed people to speak in their own words, using quite a few period quotations, while at the same time explaining things in clear, modern terms. In addition, he was trying to capture one of the more complex figures in Revolutionary history. [Aug. 2011]
    • 5/5
      Benedict Arnold is a fascinating character and Sheinkin brings him vividly to life in this lively, informative and quite engaging portrait. This is a biography written specifically for a teenage audience but any adult reader who enjoys a gripping, good story with a compelling character will enjoy it, too. I certainly did!
    • 4/5
      The suspense elements are excellent in “The Shivering Sands”, which I believe is set in the late 1880s. The disappearance of an archaeologist and later a pregnant woman are hard-to-solve mysteries.I suspected several characters at one time or another, had a few ideas for motives, but most of which were wrong because of the clever plotting. I did begin to work out the culprit a few pages before all was revealed, but the identity of said character was never obvious.I like the way the author includes small scenes every so often that seem irrelevant until later on in the narrative. She also maintains an eerie tone throughout the novel. All characters are well-crafted. I particularly enjoyed the dialogue exchanges between the heroine and Napier.I feel the book would’ve been better still if there had been a greater amount of conflict , plus certain perilous situations seem to be resolved a little too quickly. But on the whole this is a very good read.
    • 5/5
      "Riding in front of the line, his eyes flashing, pointing with his sword to the advancing for, with a voice that rang as clear as a trumpet and electrified the line, he called upon the men to follow him to the charge."Benedict Arnold was one of George Washington's most charismatic and daring generals, leading soldiers to do great things in desperate battles they shouldn't have won. Readers see how Arnold grew from an impulsive, reckless boy into a soldier and officer who led his men into the forefront of bloody battles, putting himself in the most danger at every turn. What led him to betray the new country he'd fought so hard to free from British rule? Sheinkin keeps the suspense building, adding the story of John Andre, Arnold's British contact into the mix, as well as the political maneuvering, newspaper stories and social pressures of the times. Although Arnold ended up broke and disgraced in London, his story is one of "what if?" There are many points in his life when one decision or another could have turned him onto a completely different path... and could have changed American history. Sheinkin includes an extensive list of sources (lots of primary sources), and detailed notes on the quotes he uses throughout the book. This is the best researched and most engaging biography I've seen in a long time! Especially appropriate for 8th grade because of social studies connections.
    • 3/5
      I had a tough time getting through my first 100 pages of this book because I tend to get a little lost in major “ battle” books (books that go into great depth describing a war battle). However, eventually, I understood why the author goes into such depth and the book ended up quite entertaining. The author lists good resources at the end and I am tempted to do more research. I think that’s the sign of a good story – one that inspires curiosity, which this book certainly did!
    • 4/5
      Good read about Benedict Arnold not only for the facts about his life, but told it like a story, with forshadowing and "zest" which made for easy reading. The cover of the book was what really attracted me to it in the first place. I am not a "war" story reader, but this one really held my interest more than some of the YA fiction I have been reading for the booktalks. Some of the writing was a little stilted, but not enough to dissuade me from reading it or recommending it.
    • 3/5
      “That is how Benedict Arnold lived his life. There were long periods of hard work occasionally interrupted by explosions of temper.” Known as America’s most infamous traitor, this biographical nonfiction young adult novel shares the other side of this of this once rising political patriot through his heroic battles for a budding country, success as Commander of America’s first naval fleet and his grueling 600-mile reconnaissance mission up the formidable Kennebec River to Quebec. Arnold possessed passionate political sentiment, but also a brash, bossy temperament that won him many enemies along with his conquests. His notorious downfall was caused by the steady build-up of years of hostile relationships, personal snubs and his pride. Until his death, he never saw his wrong doing and claimed, “I have ever acted from a principle of love to my country.”
    • 4/5
      Sheinkin, Steve. The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery. 352p., Roaring Book Press, 2010. Tr. $19.99. ISBN 978-1596434868; LC 1596434864It begins with a hanging. Learning about Benedict Arnold’s heroic and reckless exploits, his love for his country, and (perhaps more so) his need to be recognized and remembered, readers are allowed to draw their own conclusions on the motives of one our country’s greatest heroes and most infamous traitors. Organized by important dates of the American Revolution and Benedict Arnold’s career, this biography details the scandalous soldier’s life from beginning to end. Half way through the text, snippets of information about a man named John André begin to appear, and the reader is left to follow along Benedict Arnold’s inevitable self-destruction as their stories converge. Author Steve Shenkin uses journal entries, maps, letters, and various historic accounts to immerse the reader within the time period and to move the action along at a moderate pace. Aside from being a biography, this book is also an exemplary depiction of the war and nitty-gritty dealings of our founding fathers. Located in the back, before the index, young researchers will find the author’s list of sources incredibly useful. Highly recommended for any young adult biography collection or collections on the Revolutionary War. (YA Nonfiction, Ages 13-16)
    • 4/5
      We all know that Benedict Arnold is a troitor, but most of us don't know anything about him or what actually happened. This book sets forth clearly the train of events that changed an American hero into a villain.
    • 4/5
      Great information about a well-known name in Revolutionary War history. Sheinkin shows how Benedict Arnold could have been a celebrated hero, but because of his impatience, temper, and expensive tastes ultimately became frustrated with the Americans and approached the British with an offer to give them details of West Point so they could attack it. It almost succeeded. Prior to this he had been a courageous and brilliant soldier and tactician who had won decisive battles for the Americans against huge odds. His background family story helped to form a whole picture of why he made the decisions that he did.
    • 5/5
      This is a great book for boys. It has lots of adventure, Arnold himself was a wild, reckless and somewhat insane character.
    • 4/5
      I have to begin by saying that I adore Victoria Holt. She has such a gift for writing and I never expect her plot twists! I enjoyed this book so much, that I re-read it after I had finished. Her characters are wonderfully written and I can't help but love (or hate) them.
    • 5/5
      Couldn't believe it but i loved this book!!! Not at all what I had expected at the end, never would have guessed!!! I highly recommend this book. Great description, includes a old British Mansion on the coast and some good archciological info tucked in there too.