by Jill Jonnes
First published 2004
Three titans clash over the future of electricity in late nineteenth century America. Thomas Edison, the folksy inventor behind the light bulb, fights to establish his direct current networks in bustling New York City. The eccentric Serbian genius Nikola Tesla partners with Pittsburgh industrialist George Westinghouse to challenge Edison's empire with their alternating current technology. Historian Jill Jonnes chronicles this bitter corporate war that played out across Wall Street boardrooms, the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and Niagara Falls. The conflict reaches its darkest point in a prison death chamber, where convicted murderer William Kemmler becomes the first person executed by electric chair. Jonnes reveals how this collision of brilliant minds and competing visions transformed the world through the power of electricity, the mysterious force that would reshape civilization itself.
Genres: biography, history, science, 20th-century, american, non-fiction, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: clash-of-titans, rivals
Setting: New York City, Chicago, Niagara Falls
Period: Late 19th Century
464 pages · Paperback · Random House Trade Paperbacks