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In the summer of 1776, Washington's Continental Army suffered a desperate defeat in the face of the British Empire's unprecedentedly powerful maritime invasion and had to withdraw from New York. At the same time, Washington's talented general Benedict Arnold blocked the British advance with a miraculous victory on the US-Canada border, saving the newborn United States from destruction. But in 1780, this capable general of the Continental Army lost his belief in the cause of the American Revolution and defected to the British army. This made him a major stain in the history of the American Revolutionary War. By combining detailed historical documents with meticulous geographical investigation, Nathaniel Philbrick restored Benedict Arnold's life journey from a famous general to a traitor, and unfolded an epic of the North American Revolutionary War written by ordinary people rather than sages and heroes.