100 Books Like Valiant Ambition

Mount Vernon research historian Mary V. Thompson has written what will become the definitive book on slavery at George Washington's home. The book puts you in the place of an enslaved person, what their daily life was like. Throughout his life Washington struggled with slavery, he wanted it to end. Finally in his will, he freed his slaves. Sending a message to the country that slavery must end. There were those who were angered by this action, documented in the book. One contemporary said it was “the…worst act of his public life.” There were former slaves that thought differently. Over thirty years after Washington’s death eleven African American men were observed making repairs to Washington’s tomb. When asked about it by a visitor to Mount Vernon, it was discovered that they were former slaves of Washington freed in his will. They had volunteered their time for the memory of a… show more.

“I am always yours” was not George Washington’s usual signoff. It was reserved for Elizabeth Willing Powel, a dear friend who often gets short shrift in Washington biographies. Cassandra Good’s book isn’t devoted to the General, but what's there can't be found anywhere else.

This book is a history of the twists and turns of one revolutionary “year”—really, the 16 months between the Boston Tea Party and the Battles of Lexington and Concord—that seeks to answer the question, how did it all fall apart? 

This book is a favorite because Norton wrote it while I wrote Tea. We had many long, and extremely fulfilling, exchanges over sources as we wrote. I knew I could always ask her: what did she think of a particular source, and she would have an answer. I could run a theory by her and she would know every possible source that could test it. I’ve never had such an engaging writing experience.  

Norton is a renowned historian and Cornell professor emerta and has written a half dozen books about colonial and Revolutionary America. She is especially noted for her work on women and Loyalists, wisdom about whom imbues… show more.

Until Martha Saxton came along, Mary Ball Washington was much maligned by historians--but she’s no Mary Washington apologist. Saxton wrote the first comprehensive book on the first President’s mother with her eyes wide open and no one, not mother or son, gets away with anything.

I like Jack Kelly’s book because he does a masterful job recounting Benedict Arnold’s military career before his treason, when he was admired for strategic daring and tactical genius as a hard-charging American warrior. Arnold wasn’t a run-of-the-mill traitor; indeed, early during the Revolution, some thought Washington and Arnold would emerge together as the war’s two great leaders. That’s why Arnold’s betrayal knocked Americans for a loop: he was a battlefield hero who turned traitor.

From Fort Ticonderoga, to Quebec, to Saratoga (and battles in between), Jack Kelly focuses on Arnold’s heroic achievements and sets the stage for understanding the shock and dismay that, as one soldier put it at the time, “a man so high on the list of fame should be as guilty as Arnold.”

Of all the books about Arnold I’ve read, this might be my favorite. Eric Lehman primarily focuses on what comes after Arnold sides with the British.

Arnold is not satisfied with defecting and lying low. Instead, he leads massive raids against the Americans—his former brothers-in-arms—in Richmond, Virginia, and New London, Connecticut. This latter attack—and the focus of Lehman’s book—is particularly brutal since New London is just 11 miles downriver from Arnold’s hometown of Norwich.

Arnold knew the people of New London, yet he arrived by sea to burn the city and terrorize the population. This book is loaded with historical detail, but Eric Lehman is a brilliant storyteller, and it is hard to put down. 

When I want to dig deeply into the details of Arnold’s life—from his birth in Norwich in 1741 and the troubled circumstances of his childhood, through to his long and uncertain convalescence in the Albany military hospital following his grave wounding at Saratoga—I invariably open James Kirby Martin’s biography.

The most intriguing question about Arnold is: Why did he betray his countrymen? There is no clear answer; he never offered a compelling explanation. The challenge, then, is to get inside Arnold’s head. That’s not easy, of course, but the detailed examination that Martin provides of Arnold’s life before his treason gives us notable insights to Arnold’s angels and demons.

I love a good spy story, and there are lots of them in this book—all focused on the cabal of spies in British-occupied New York that delivered intelligence to Washington. Here are Hercules Mulligan, the tailor; James Rivington, the printer; the ill-fated Nathan Hale; and a bounty of others.

But my favorite is John Champe, a sergeant-major from Virginia who is recruited for a mission to capture Benedict Arnold and deliver him to the Continental Army for trial (and the inevitable gallows). Rose reveals the intrigue and deception of Revolutionary New York, into which Arnold fled after his treason, and the characters who carried it out.

So much of history happens undercover. Few realize that the American Revolution would have failed were it not for the courage of forgotten spies, as well as mysterious, inexplicable behind-the-scenes surprises. In this book, we find specific ‘secrets’ unveiled that made a difference in the fight for independence. Well-researched, it’s an entertaining and informative read. Expect to blink your eyes and smile, and discover the soul of the patriots. 

Roberts wrote many better-known novels—e.g. Northwest Passage and Rabble in Arms. Few people remember this wonderful adventure, which takes young Steven Nason on Benedict Arnold’s doomed expedition up the Kennebec River to assault Quebec. (Arundel is a town in southern Maine.) Exuberant writing, great historical detail, and a wonderful depiction of New England Indian life. A classic.