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    Becoming Tom Thumb: Charles Stratton, P. T. Barnum, and the Dawn of American Celebrity
    Unavailable
    Becoming Tom Thumb: Charles Stratton, P. T. Barnum, and the Dawn of American Celebrity
    Unavailable
    Becoming Tom Thumb: Charles Stratton, P. T. Barnum, and the Dawn of American Celebrity
    Ebook367 pages12 hours

    Becoming Tom Thumb: Charles Stratton, P. T. Barnum, and the Dawn of American Celebrity

    By Eric D. Lehman

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Winner of the Henry-Russell Hitchcock Award, Victorian Society of America (2014)

    When P. T. Barnum met twenty-five-inch-tall Charles Stratton at a Bridgeport, Connecticut hotel in 1843, one of the most important partnerships in entertainment history was born. With Barnum's promotional skills and the miniature Stratton's comedic talents, they charmed a Who's Who of the 19th century, from Queen Victoria to Charles Dickens to Abraham Lincoln. Adored worldwide as "General Tom Thumb," Stratton played to sold-out shows for almost forty years. From his days as a precocious child star to his tragic early death, Becoming Tom Thumb tells the full story of this iconic figure for the first time. It details his triumphs on the New York stage, his epic celebrity wedding, and his around-the-world tour, drawing on newly available primary sources and interviews. From the mansions of Paris to the deserts of Australia, Stratton's unique brand of Yankee comedy not only earned him the accolades of millions of fans, it helped move little people out of the side show and into the lime light.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWesleyan University Press
    Release dateOct 22, 2013
    ISBN9780819573322
    Unavailable
    Becoming Tom Thumb: Charles Stratton, P. T. Barnum, and the Dawn of American Celebrity
    Author

    Eric D. Lehman

    Eric D. Lehman is the author of twelve books of history, travel, and fiction, including The History of Connecticut Food, Literary Connecticut, Homegrown Terror: Benedict Arnold and the Burning of New London, and Becoming Tom Thumb: Charles Stratton, P.T. Barnum, and the Dawn of American Celebrity, which won the Henry Russell Hitchcock Award from the Victorian Society of America and was chosen as one of the American Library Association's outstanding university press books of the year. His 2016 book Shadows of Paris was chosen as novella of the year from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, earned a silver medal in Romance from the Foreword Review Indie Book Awards, and was a finalist for the Connecticut Book Award. He teaches creative writing and literature at the University of Bridgeport and lives in Hamden with his wife, poet Amy Nawrocki, and their two cats.

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