A universally recognized icon, the Statue of Liberty is perhaps the most beloved of all American symbols. Yet no one living in 1885, when the crated monument arrived in New York harbour, could have foreseen the central place the Statue of Liberty would come to occupy in the American imagination. Her improbable beginnings, her trans-Atlantic connections, and the changing meanings she has held for each American generation are the subject of this engaging history. With the particular insights of a cultural historian and scholar of French history, Edward Berenson begins the Statue of Liberty's story with the French intellectuals who had the idea to commemorate American liberty with a great monument. Without discussing the project with anyone in the U.S., they designed the statue, announced the gift, and directed where it should go. The initial American response, not surprisingly, was less than enthusiastic, and the project encountered countless difficulties before the statue was at last unveiled to the public in 1886. Since then, Berenson shows, this cherished national symbol has been linked with such high ideals as the emancipation of the slaves, Tocqueville's idea of orderly liberty, opportunity for "huddled masses", and, in the years since 9/11, the freedom and resilience of New York and the USA.