Traitors and Turncoats - Ian Crofton

Traitors and Turncoats by Ian Crofton

Just what is a traitor? Well I guess it depends on whose side you are on. One persons or country's traitor may be another's hero.

Crofton focuses in on twenty-one people who have been labled traitors in one form or another. Yet although there are some who are definate traitors, others would not be considered so.

The usual ones we think of as traitors are here...Judas, Benedict Arnold, Guy Fawkes and the controversial and legendary Mata Hari, but there are others that could hardly be called traitors.


Anne Boleyn was beheaded for having affairs with men (including her brother) other than Henry VIII, a crime considered treason if a queen did it although not if a king did and one that Crofton begins the chapter pointing out that Princess Diana admitted to. However there was actually no proof and most believe she was innocent of the crime. However Henry used it as a way to get rid of his marriage so he could marry his mistress Jane Seymour.

Lady Jane Grey could hardly be considered a traitor by any stretch of the imagination. She was an innocent fifteen year old who was used as a figurehead by those who did not wish to have Henry VIII daughter Mary to ascend to the throne. For nine days, Lady Jane was Queen and her reign ended by her beheading. She never wanted the role but was forced into it.

Sophie Scholl might very well fall into the hero category. A German girl during the Nazi regime, she, her brother and her friends spread literature denouncing the new regime. She was found guilty of treason against her country and along with her brother and friends was guillotined. It might be argued that she committed treason against the reigning government, but actually she spoke out for her fellow Germans.

Perhaps I focus in on those wrongly labled traitor because of my own family history. My paternal grandfather and great-grandfather were executed for being traitors against the Soviet government. They were later proclaimed innocent.

However I am not accusing Crofton of wrongly lableing others. More than likely he included them to show the different views  of traitorism. He isn't afraid of expressing an opinion in this easy readable and non-scholary book. I use this as a compliment. It's part of this books charm that while he makes the reading enjoyable occasionally you will see his opinions sneak in.

Perhaps a traitor can be catagorized as someone who makes an allegience to a person, country or belief and yet works for the opposite of what he proclaims. Not all the people in this book fall into that category. For instance Rose O'Neal Greenhow, an advocate for the South in the American Civil War never actually hid her alliances or bigoted viewpoints and worked for the south as a spy. Although most find her despicable she isn't really a traitor to the cause that she sided with.

Crofton shows us how Benedict Arnold, a name that like Judas has become synonymous with the word traitor, came to the decisions he made and how at the same time that he is spat upon as a traitor, he rightfully earned the lable hero before his disillusionment that led to his traitorism.

And perhaps that is the type that hurts most of all. Those who are revered and then let us down. Judas was an apostle of Jesus. He was one of the few chosen and he became one of the most hated men in history.

We love these stories. Star Wars tells us the same tale. That of Anikin Skywalker, a chosen one who become the trecherous Darth Vader.

Our own history of the earth begins with the traitorous Lucifer who turns into Satan.

And even on a more personal note, when our own family betrays us it is often the most painful experience we will ever have.

A great non-fiction title. If you like history, you'll enjoy this one.

Books by Ian Crofton