One of the seven titles in Southern Illinois University Press's Theatre in the Americas series, David Rinear's book elevates the early nineteenth-century actor-manager William E. Burton to the front ranks of American theatre in the period of transition from stock companies to touring stars. As Rinear writes, “no one in the theatrical or literary world of pre–Civil War America left a mark so thoroughly on his age as William E. Burton. He was lauded as the greatest comic actor of his age, and his managerial acumen provided him with a tremendous fortune” (xii). Perhaps because Burton specialized in such little-studied areas as low comedy and management, this is the first thorough study to give due attention to his career.