Author's note on terminology -- Prologue: King Henry's drama -- Introduction: On doing justice to Christophe's story -- A future king is born -- A child in a world of slavery and revolution -- Tracing genealogies to the future king -- Rising and falling with revolution -- Complicated victories -- Love, loss, and betrayal under uncertain skies -- America avenged -- Empires rise.... -- Cracks in imperial authority -- Empires fall.... -- The dawn of civil war -- A king is crowned -- Three French spies -- The age of Christophean diplomacy -- The age of Christophean prosperity -- Cracks in kingly authority -- A king is gone, but not forgotten -- Kingdom of the next world -- Epilogue: The greatest heist in history -- Acknowledgments.