CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xxi
Prologue: Playing the Palace 1
The Boy from Bridgeport 10
At the American Museum 20
Prince Charles the First 37
Buttons, Bullfights, and Balloons 49
Hop O’ My Thumb 60
Heart of a Child 73
On the New York Stage 87
The Measure of a Man 103
The Wedding of the Year 119
The Long and Short of It 131
A Very Strange Honeymoon 140
Tom Thumb’s America 152
Around the World 164
At the Helm 174
A Marriage and Two Funerals 185
The Great Fire 195
At Mountain Grove 206
Notes 211
A Note on Sources 239
Selected Bibliography 241
Index 243
