The Man in the Mirror: A Life of Benedict Arnold

by Clare Brandt

Shows how the personal insecurities and longings for material wealth of the brilliant military leader undermined his superior qualities and how his transgressions eventually caught up with him. 12,500 first printing. $15,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Genres: Biography, History, American Revolution, Nonfiction

360 pages, Hardcover

First published January 25, 1994

Reviews

[Liam Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a revolutionary historian at Washington's Headquarters in Newburgh, NY, so hopefully I can help shed some light on this book for future readers.

First, the positive. Brandt's writing is clearly very well researched, as she speaks well on a variety of Revolutionary topics, from battle to politics and everything in between. Arnold's life is fully told here in great detail, and I'm certain many readers will learn new things that they didn't previously know about America's greatest traitor.

Now, the negative. I have many issues with this book, notably Brandt's positive characterization of Horatio Gates (I will die upon the hill of Gates' incompetence. I have researched & written extensively about the coward of camden, for both WHQ & my history degree, and no one will ever convince me otherwise), her apparent omniscience regarding Arnold's feelings, and her random spurts of eloquence that seemingly lack substance, existing only to prove that she can indeed pull off such flowery diction.

Despite these issues, I wouldn't discourage readers from picking this up. It would certainly not be the first book I'd recommend about Arnold, nor even the tenth, but it does the job it sets out to do.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brandt clearly has her mind made up about Benedict Arnold’s entire psychological life. She repeatedly makes decisive statements about Arnold’s motivations, feelings, reasoning and character. While her conclusions about him as a person seem reasonable, it’s difficult to tell how she came to such conclusions. She analyzes his behavior by making blanket statements about his internal life that are not always directly supported by his words. In truth, in its approach to the main character, it reads a lot like a true crime book - the crime here being betrayal in the midst of great historical import instead of murder in some suburb. However, Brandt does a good job going through Arnold’s life. I certainly learned a lot about Arnold, his service, and its consequences. This book is a good source to find out what happened, even if it is too strident in its interpretations.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at a subject about which I knew very little. I appreciated the recurring mirror metaphor that illustrated Arnold's distorted view of himself, and what he considered to be acts of heroism, or perhaps what he convinced himself to believe so that he could remain blameless in his own eyes. It was interesting to see how his relationships with the British were affected by his having betrayed the Americans, and how his difficulties in achieving the recognition and reward he desired persisted after he switched sides.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I originally read this biography of Benedict Arnold back in 1997, but watching the AMC television series TURN: Washington's Spies inspired me to reread it. Although the series ended more than a year ago, the itch to read this book remained, and I finally got around to it.

Clare Brandt tries to get into the head of America's most notorious traitor. The "man in the mirror" analogy that gives this book its title is a running theme, describing how Brandt perceives what Arnold's self-image was at various points in his life. I normally have little patience for this kind of psychobiography, but I suppose it's unavoidable when writing about someone like Benedict Arnold. (Similarly, for the next several hundred years, I expect historians will be trying to get into Donald Trump's head, which is a far scarier notion than anything Clare Brandt attempts here.)

Arnold is presented as an opportunist, someone who didn't actually betray his ideals when he switched sides, because his only motivations were personal glory and financial gain, and when he felt that aligning with the British would better serve his aims, there was no crisis of conscience involved when he turned his coat.

Since my most recent exposure to Benedict Arnold's story was from the TV series mentioned above, I was a little surprised at how some of the events played out. TURN indicated that a love affair existed between Peggy Shippen and John Andre, and that Peggy seduced and married Arnold in order to lure him to betray the American cause. The book implies no such thing. It was entirely Arnold's idea, and Shippen was an enthusiastic supporter. Apparently the version on TURN wasn't one of the many examples of Hollywood messing with historical facts for purposes of dramatic license. Historians disagree on the mechanizations behind Arnold's plot, and whether or not Andre and Peggy Shippen were the instigators. Clare Brandt, however, never addresses the possibility? Was it because she dismissed it as completely implausible? Or has new evidence come about in the years since The Man in the Mirror was published that would lead to this new interpretation? I'll have to dig around a bit more and see what I can find.

[Jim Tracy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Looking for a book to read, I picked this up after watching an interview n CSPAN. Unfortunately, I had to look up five words in the dictionary by the time I got halfway through the first page in chapter 1.
Moribund, mendaciously, aerie, precipitous, adamantine.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insite as to what was going and with Benedict Arnold and what may have caused him to do what he did. Interesting information about a leperous spot in US History.