Scoundrels, as well as heroes, shaped America’s founding
America’s founders are revered figures, but in recent decades scholars have sought to present a fuller picture of men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton, exploring their blind spots and flaws in addition to their achievements.
Two new books suggest that the founding era’s villains, like its heroes, ought to receive more nuanced consideration, too.
Benedict Arnold, the patriot hero who defected to the British in the midst of the Revolutionary War, is remembered as the foremost fiend of his time: His name is practically synonymous with treason. Jack Kelly’s vivid and fast-paced biography, “God Save Benedict Arnold:
