Table of Contents: “…Prologue: a New Yorker comes home -- The Knickerbocker set -- Lewis Gaylord Clark's table -- Knickerbocker Whiggery -- John Waters -- Harry Franco -- Chowder -- Young America -- The Tetractys Club -- A protective tariff for native genius -- A pattern of alliances -- Maelstrom in the microcosm -- The literary prospects of 1845 -- Big Abel and the little Manhattan -- The timeliness of Toby -- Tom Pepper -- Literary worlds -- Rear-guard action -- A greater than Shakespeare? …”