Jason Furman's Reviews > The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery

Amazing book, listened with my children, a thriller, adventure story, American history, biography of a fascinating man. I have read relatively little YA history/biography but stripping a story down to its essentials, doing without padding, and adding a little more author's license to describe perceptions and make it more of a story is a format that works very well--and not just for children.

It helped that I was largely ignorant of the story--I knew Benedict Arnold's role taking Fort Ticonderoga and knew he did some terrible treachery but was only dimly aware of what it was. And never knew anything about the motivations, which in this book unfold like a Greek tragedy that is both inevitable but also fascinating to watch it unfold.

I would happily read more YA nonfiction on my own (previously I read Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad), and will certainly be seeking out more to listen to with my children.