American Library Association Annual Conference

Best of the best - my book Becoming Tom Thumb will be featured at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Las Vegas this year!


I will not be there, unfortunately...I guess its a little much to fly me out to Las Vegas for that book event. I'm not that popular an author yet!

Becoming Tom Thumb wins its First Award

Becoming Tom Thumb has won its first award, the 2014 Henry Russell Hitchcock Prize from the Victorian Society in America.

They write:

“Deeply humane and splendidly researched, we believe that Becoming Tom Thumb is the first to do justice to Charles Stratton...It shows him to be a charming and dynamic entrepreneur who shrewdly exploited his international celebrity, by no means a hapless victim, and it does so with great insight and sympathy.”

         —The Victorian Society in America, awarding the 2014 Henry Russell Hitchcock Award

Fieldstone Common

I was interviewed by Marian Pierre-Louis of Fieldstone Common for her podcast series. Check it out here. Marian writes: "In this interview Eric and I talk about Charles Stratton, the successful man. It’s hard to call him Tom Thumb after reading this book and seeing him as a real person. This story will challenge all the preconceived notions you have of General Tom Thumb. He was smart, talented, entertaining and a leader in his community. We discuss, as well, the success of P.T. Barnum and the prejudices faced by little people later in the 19th century." It was a pleasure to talk with someone so knowledgeable about New England history. Marian (and others) have convinced me that podcasts are the wave of the future, and that radio is pretty much dead. Clear Channel and others have killed it - pretty much made it no different than listening to Spotify, etc. With some exceptions of course! We could look at it another way...after a narrowing of radio's impact and variety, podcasts have expanded the audio world once again, filling a real need.

Tom Thumb at the Middleborough Historical Association


Over the weekend I gave the first lecture for Becoming Tom Thumb at the Middleborough Historical Association. They are the proud curators of the Tom Thumb Museum, which has one of the largest collections of objects related to Charles Stratton and Lavinia Warren in the world. It was my privilege to fill in some of the gaps in their story.