A brave British widow goes to Siam and-by dint of her principled and indomitable character-inspires that despotic nation to abolish slavery and absolute rule: this appealing legend first took shape after the Civil War when Anna Leonowens came to America from Bangkok and succeeded in becoming a celebrity author and lecturer. But who was Leonowens and why did her story take hold? Alfred Habegger, an award-winning biographer, draws on the archives of five continents to disclose the complex person behind the mask and the troubling facts behind the myth.