James Thomas Fields, poet, editor, and publisher, was born the son of a ship's captain at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His father died when he was two and he and his younger brother George were raised by their mother. From an early age, Fields read widely and received as good an education as possible. But a lack of money prevented his attending college, and in 1831 he went to work in Boston at Carter and Hendee's Bookstore (later called the Old Corner Bookstore). Fields soon became an active participant in the literary and social life of Boston: he regularly attended the Reverend William Ellery Channing's church; his rooms became a place for socials attended by such people as Edwin Percy Whipple and Longfellow; and he joined the Boston Mercantile Library Association. His poetic aspirations were also fulfilled when his verses were printed in the Portsmouth Journal, Knickerbocker Magazine, The Token...