In the heart of 19th-century San Francisco — a city of gold, greed, and gamblers — one man crowned himself Emperor of the United States. His name was Joshua Abraham Norton, a failed businessman who lost his fortune and, quite possibly, his mind… but gained something far greater: the love of an entire city.

From 1859 until his death in 1880, Emperor Norton I ruled without soldiers, laws, or money — issuing royal decrees, inspecting the streets, and attending the theater in full imperial uniform. And astonishingly, San Francisco bowed to him. Restaurants fed him for free, newspapers published his proclamations, and even the police saluted him on sight. In an age of corruption and cruelty, the Emperor’s reign was marked by one thing missing from most governments — kindness.

This is the strange, hilarious, and heartfelt story of a man who turned delusion into dignity and madness into meaning. A forgotten ruler whose empire was built on imagination, and whose memory still reigns — quietly — over the fog and cobblestones of San Francisco.

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