McArthur's biography of Joseph Jefferson (1829–1905), one of the nineteenth century's most successful performers, scrutinizes the actor's lengthy career without losing sight of its context. Jefferson and his considerable accomplishments are always set against the backdrop of the dynamic nineteenth-century American stage. This is an appropriate narrative strategy – Jefferson had a knack, as McArthur observes, ‘for being present at so many important moments of stage history’ (p. 290), and his work brought him into contact with many of the era's notable actors, managers, and producers. Born into a theatrical family, one of his earliest recorded appearances onstage was a duet he performed with minstrel star T. D. Rice at the age of four. Jefferson learned his craft as an itinerant actor in supporting roles of productions featuring such theatrical luminaries as Junius Brutus Booth, Anna Cora Mowatt and Edwin Forrest, before joining Laura Keene's celebrated company in 1857. Dion Boucicault penned the version of Rip Van Winkle that provided him with his wildly popular signature role, and Jefferson succeeded his good friend Edwin Booth as the second president of New York City's Players Club in 1893.

By focusing on Jefferson's milieu and professional activities, the book provides readers with an account of ways in which the American theatre changed during his long career. Among the disparate changes are those brought about by the use of the railroad by touring companies, the rise of burlesque, the professionalization of the craft of acting and the increasing acceptance of actors in polite society. Despite enjoying great fame during his lifetime, less is known now about Jefferson than about many of his contemporaries. In his epilogue, McArthur notes that Jefferson's life ‘was almost exactly coterminous’ with that of Henrik Ibsen (p. 355), yet, as a popular comedian, Jefferson's legacy remains far more ephemeral.