The Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable monuments in the world, a powerful symbol of freedom and the American dream. For decades, the myth has persisted that the statue was a grand gift from France, but Mitchell reveals how she was in fact the pet project of one quixotic and visionary French sculptor, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. Bartholdi not only forged this 151-foot-tall colossus in a workshop in Paris and transported her across the ocean, but battled to raise money for the statue and make her a reality.

Prologue - The idea. Our hero emerges from the clay ; Bartholdi down the Black Nile ; The Khedive refuses ; War and Garibaldi ; Paris in rubble -- The gamble. America, the bewildering ; The workshop of the giant hand ; Making a spectacle ; Eiffel props the giantess ; The engineer and the newspaperman ; The blessing ; Liberty sets sail ; Pulitzer's army and other helpers -- The triumph. Liberty unveiled -- Epilogue.