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Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World
In the final decades of the nineteenth century, three brilliant and visionary titans of America’s Gilded Age—Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and George Westinghouse—battled bitterly as each vied to create a vast and powerful electrical empire. In Empires of Light , historian Jill Jonnes portrays this extraordinary trio and their riveting and ruthless world of cutting-edge science, invention, intrigue, money, death, and hard-eyed Wall Street millionaires. At the heart of the story are Thomas Alva Edison, the nation’s most famous and folksy inventor, creator of the incandescent light bulb and mastermind of the world’s first direct current electrical light networks; the Serbian wizard of invention Nikola Tesla, elegant, highly eccentric, a dreamer who revolutionized the generation and delivery of electricity; and the charismatic George Westinghouse, Pittsburgh inventor and tough corporate entrepreneur, an industrial idealist who in the era of gaslight imagined a world powered by cheap and plentiful electricity and worked heart and soul to create it.
Edison struggled to introduce his radical new direct current (DC) technology into the hurly-burly of New York City as Tesla and Westinghouse challenged his dominance with their alternating current (AC), thus setting the stage for one of the eeriest feuds in American corporate history, the War of the Electric Currents. The battlegrounds: Wall Street, the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, Niagara Falls, and, finally, the death chamber—Jonnes takes us on the tense walk down a prison hallway and into the sunlit room where William Kemmler, convicted ax murderer, became the first man to die in the electric chair.
Empires of Light is the gripping history of electricity, the “mysterious fluid,” and how the fateful collision of Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse left the world utterly transformed.
Edison struggled to introduce his radical new direct current (DC) technology into the hurly-burly of New York City as Tesla and Westinghouse challenged his dominance with their alternating current (AC), thus setting the stage for one of the eeriest feuds in American corporate history, the War of the Electric Currents. The battlegrounds: Wall Street, the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, Niagara Falls, and, finally, the death chamber—Jonnes takes us on the tense walk down a prison hallway and into the sunlit room where William Kemmler, convicted ax murderer, became the first man to die in the electric chair.
Empires of Light is the gripping history of electricity, the “mysterious fluid,” and how the fateful collision of Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse left the world utterly transformed.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published August 19, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 329 reviews
March 15, 2015
I seem to have a bad track record in picking technology. I was one of those who plumped for HD-DVD instead of the now-ubiquitous Blu-Ray; I was obsessed with my MiniDisc player long after music companies had stopped bothering to release anything on the format; and back home, in a cupboard somewhere, my family still has the old Betamax player that I remember trying to get excited about while all my friends had gone with VHS. It was better, I'm telling you!!
So I sympathise with those on the wrong side of the original standards war – the nineteenth-century showdown between DC and AC electricity. At stake was limitless commercial opportunity, as American cities gradually became convinced of the benefits of adopting electric power; and each side of the debate had its own big-name champions.
In the red corner, for DC, the Wizard of Menlo Park himself – Thomas Edison. He pumped millions of dollars and several years of his life into the quest to find a practical commercial lightbulb, and DC power was the lynchpin of his schemes for expansion.
Against him, in the blue corner, was a dream combination of genius industrialist George Westinghouse, and crazed ahead-of-his-time dreamer Nikola Tesla, who both saw the possibilities of AC.
The battle was astonishingly acrimonious, and full of bizarre turns. When the state of New York began to consider whether electricity might make a more humane alternative to hanging as a form of capital punishment, Edison and his DC supporters immediately wrote to the authorities to recommend AC power, hoping to rebrand their opponents' standard as ‘the executioner's current’. (The first victim of the electric chair was indeed executed – messily and not quickly – by alternating current in Buffalo in 1890.)
It has become fashionable in this narrative to revere Tesla as a maligned visionary, and consequently to cast Edison as an uncreative drudge who just happened to be superbly well funded. There is a grain of truth somewhere in this, but it's also clear that Tesla could be difficult and he was not good at communicating (let alone monetising) his ideas. His catalogue of OCDish, quasi-autistic foibles didn't help:
He (silently) counted each step he took as he made his early morning walk down to the Ivry factory. Every activity ideally had to be divisible by three (hence the twenty-seven laps each morning in the Seine). Before eating or drinking anything, he felt obliged to calculate its cubic contents. He deeply disliked shaking hands with anyone. He had a ‘violent aversion against the earrings of women,’ pearls above all. ‘I would not touch the hair of other people except, perhaps, at the point of a revolver.’ The mere sight of a peach brought on a fever. Moreover, Tesla could (and happily did) recite long swathes of Serbian poetry from heart.
He sounds amazing fun, but a bit of a nightmare as a business partner.
In the end, Tesla was right but naïve, while Edison was wrong but stubborn. George Westinghouse (the unexpected hero of the book) found the best balance. The fact is that DC power is simply very inefficient and expensive over long distances, and a new generator was needed in every square mile to be powered – one every few blocks, in town. AC, by contract, can be transmitted vast distances, so that a remote hydroelectric station can light up cities that are many miles away.
I would have liked more scientific detail on the physics behind all this, and as it was I had to supplement this book with various enlightening excursions to Wikipedia and YouTube. Jonnes also allows herself to get a bit carried away on occasion (‘one of those delicious fall Saturdays where the very air shimmers sweetly, full of life's promise and yet tempered by autumnal tristesse’…tristesse, really?).
Nevertheless, this story of America's Gilded Age and the personalities behind the electric revolution is very well told. It was a time of remarkable, almost unbelievable scientific progress, and progress moreover that was immediately pumped visibly into commercial circulation. It wasn't like the Higgs Boson; a breakthrough in the lab on Monday would be crowbarred onto the High Street by the weekend. The effect must have been like living in a science-fiction novel. (But then what do I know; I said the same thing about my Betamax.)
(Feb 2014)
June 11, 2020
This was the story of Thomas Alva Edison, George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla , who collectively and individually did so much to change the economic and physical conditions of everyone in the world. About a year ago I read a novel about these three individuals. It incorporated factual events but also turned their lives into a melodramatic soap opera, so of course it was sold to Hollywood. I wanted to know the real story behind the spread of electricity and these brilliant, ambitious and driven men. "Empires of Light" is what I was looking for.
Edison was a partially deaf inventor who got his start with the telegraph. Westinghouse was a Pittsburgh industrialist who made his name with inventions for railroads. Tesla was a Serbian genius and dandy with OCD. Most of the book was devoted to the AC/DC battle. Edison was the advocate of direct current although it involved setting up numerous central stations because it couldn't travel more than half a mile. He thought alternating current was too dangerous and recommended its use in capital punishment. It was, in fact, used in the first electric chair. Westinghouse and Tesla believed in the future of alternating current, and AC ultimately prevailed once a way was found to lessen the danger. The war continued to be fought at The White City fair in Chicago. I liked the author's description of the dazzle, spectacle and magic of electricity at the fair. Inventions of all three men were featured there. In edition to the spread of electricity, these men were also instrumental in the development of light bulbs, phonographs, movies, iron ore extraction, wireless transmission, radios and much more and were the holders of thousands of patents. They faced setbacks in their commercial operations, however, and both Edison and Westinghouse wound up being ousted from their companies by financiers. Tesla never was particularly adept at exploiting the commercial possibilities of his inventions.
This book was comprehensive, sometimes to a fault. I know that there is tendency, when you have done a lot of research, to want to include everything you found out, but some descriptions and details could have been omitted. I also wanted to skip over the dog electrocution experiments and the details of the first execution, but it's hard to do in an audiobook. However, it was fascinating to read about how these men converged.
Edison was a partially deaf inventor who got his start with the telegraph. Westinghouse was a Pittsburgh industrialist who made his name with inventions for railroads. Tesla was a Serbian genius and dandy with OCD. Most of the book was devoted to the AC/DC battle. Edison was the advocate of direct current although it involved setting up numerous central stations because it couldn't travel more than half a mile. He thought alternating current was too dangerous and recommended its use in capital punishment. It was, in fact, used in the first electric chair. Westinghouse and Tesla believed in the future of alternating current, and AC ultimately prevailed once a way was found to lessen the danger. The war continued to be fought at The White City fair in Chicago. I liked the author's description of the dazzle, spectacle and magic of electricity at the fair. Inventions of all three men were featured there. In edition to the spread of electricity, these men were also instrumental in the development of light bulbs, phonographs, movies, iron ore extraction, wireless transmission, radios and much more and were the holders of thousands of patents. They faced setbacks in their commercial operations, however, and both Edison and Westinghouse wound up being ousted from their companies by financiers. Tesla never was particularly adept at exploiting the commercial possibilities of his inventions.
This book was comprehensive, sometimes to a fault. I know that there is tendency, when you have done a lot of research, to want to include everything you found out, but some descriptions and details could have been omitted. I also wanted to skip over the dog electrocution experiments and the details of the first execution, but it's hard to do in an audiobook. However, it was fascinating to read about how these men converged.
March 31, 2023
An interesting examination of the period of the late 19th century when the practicality of electricity as a commercial product was being developed. Jonnes selects Thomas Edison, Nicolas Tesla, and George Westinghouse as they fought for supremacy in the minds of the public as well as the bankers and investors to back their ideas.
The author focuses on electricity as an historical phenomenon and then moves to the inventions and machines that captured the imagination of the world of the 19th century. The Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the development of power at Niagara Falls are highlighted. The use of electricity in prisons in the development of the electric chair I thought was less successful. The research was impressive and the segments on Tesla I thought especially dare I say illuminating.
The author focuses on electricity as an historical phenomenon and then moves to the inventions and machines that captured the imagination of the world of the 19th century. The Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the development of power at Niagara Falls are highlighted. The use of electricity in prisons in the development of the electric chair I thought was less successful. The research was impressive and the segments on Tesla I thought especially dare I say illuminating.
August 3, 2017
Instead of writing about one of these great titans Edison, Tesla or Westinghouse, Jill Jonnes chose to write about all three in one book. Jonnes focused on the race to control electricity delivery to the country. The battle between Edison and Tesla was whether electricity should be delivered and put to use as direct or alternating current. Edison backed direct and Tesla alternating current. Westinghouse jumped into the fray to control the delivery to business and homes throughout the country. Westinghouse and Tesla teamed up to harness the Niagara Falls in 1895 to deliver electricity. According to Jonnes electricity unleashed a Second Industrial Revolution.
The book is well written and meticulously researched. The book covers a broad-spectrum picture of the race to electrify the nation. The book is well organized. The book covers everything from the biographies of the three men to the science of electricity, to business and finance. Of the three men, it is Tesla that has fascinated me since I studied him in college.
Jill Jonnes has her degree in history from John Hopkins University. In this book, she demonstrates the ability to portray the broad picture of history in the style of the late Stephen Ambrose. She is definitely an author to watch.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is almost seventeen hours long. Chris Sorensen does a great job narrating the book. Sorensen is a screenwriter, playwright and award-winning audiobook narrator.
The book is well written and meticulously researched. The book covers a broad-spectrum picture of the race to electrify the nation. The book is well organized. The book covers everything from the biographies of the three men to the science of electricity, to business and finance. Of the three men, it is Tesla that has fascinated me since I studied him in college.
Jill Jonnes has her degree in history from John Hopkins University. In this book, she demonstrates the ability to portray the broad picture of history in the style of the late Stephen Ambrose. She is definitely an author to watch.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is almost seventeen hours long. Chris Sorensen does a great job narrating the book. Sorensen is a screenwriter, playwright and award-winning audiobook narrator.
February 14, 2018
I am disappointed and would not recommend this book. It was a real chore to complete.
Disappointed because author Jill Jonnes picked a topic that should have been a sure thing. She obviously immersed herself in the lives of Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse and knows the science at least well enough to write about it.
The problem with this book boils down to the author. The writing, book organization, and length are dreadful. First, the organization. It helps with a non-fiction book like this one to organize either chronologically (my preference) or thematically. This one is all over the place and it makes it very hard to follow. Next, the writing. Its tortuous. Jonnes seems to believe more is always better than less. This applies specifically to adjectives, but also to word count in general. We also endure repeated character descriptions (i.e. J.P. Morgan's large nose...). We take turns down bunny trails. A few tie into the story, but a number have nothing to do with the story (for example, a scandal about Rev. Charles Parkhurst - no relation to the story). I eventually came to the conclusion that we get heavy doses of book filler. Which makes the final point. The book is too long. I don't mean to be harsh, this story had (has) high promise. A good editor maybe could have helped turn this into a very good interesting book. It just didn't happen.
Disappointed because author Jill Jonnes picked a topic that should have been a sure thing. She obviously immersed herself in the lives of Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse and knows the science at least well enough to write about it.
The problem with this book boils down to the author. The writing, book organization, and length are dreadful. First, the organization. It helps with a non-fiction book like this one to organize either chronologically (my preference) or thematically. This one is all over the place and it makes it very hard to follow. Next, the writing. Its tortuous. Jonnes seems to believe more is always better than less. This applies specifically to adjectives, but also to word count in general. We also endure repeated character descriptions (i.e. J.P. Morgan's large nose...). We take turns down bunny trails. A few tie into the story, but a number have nothing to do with the story (for example, a scandal about Rev. Charles Parkhurst - no relation to the story). I eventually came to the conclusion that we get heavy doses of book filler. Which makes the final point. The book is too long. I don't mean to be harsh, this story had (has) high promise. A good editor maybe could have helped turn this into a very good interesting book. It just didn't happen.
March 2, 2011
This book was fantastic, an entertaining look into the early advent of electricity. Part of the strength of the book was in little non-sequiturs like this one:
which generally made me want more information about some unrelated but fascinating topic.
Here's a favorite quote from the book (although credit goes largely to Tesla, rather than the author):
They would share the nighttime streets with the city’s denizens of the dark, including the great army of rag pickers and their dog-pulled wooden carts, each licensed to root through the daily refuse for salvageable cloth.
which generally made me want more information about some unrelated but fascinating topic.
Here's a favorite quote from the book (although credit goes largely to Tesla, rather than the author):
Tesla understood that many branded him a “visionary” for his deep belief that in time energy would be easily extracted from the universe around us. But he pointed out, “We are whirling through endless space with an inconceivable speed, all around us everything is spinning, everything is moving, everywhere is energy. There must be some way of availing ourselves of this energy more directly. Then, with the light obtained from the medium, with the power derived from it, with every form of energy obtained without effort, from the store ever inexhaustible, humanity will advance with giant strides. The mere contemplation of those magnificent possibilities expands our minds, strengthens our hopes and fills our hearts with supreme delight.”
July 9, 2019
Such an interesting story to tell, filled with momentous men and events! However, what a clumsy exposition: Overly long, somewhat repetitive (each chapter focuses on a particular person or a single event and feels to be written independent of the other chapters). Although I learned a fair amount of history I didn't know, the bad science in a book like this is inexcusable. So much detail on what people were wearing or eating and yet the details of the multiphase AC electric grid is barely explained at all...
Mischaracterizing electricity, magnetic induction, and even simply doing some bad math calculations. Some striking examples of bad science: electrons being positive or negative, AC producing stronger magnetic fields than DC, 1 to 2 amps + 200 ohms from 110 volts, Fluorescence being dependent on "highly charged atmosphere", generating a "grand total" of power for an event, reducing the complicated story of how electricity kills (after spending several chapters on it!) to the simplistic "it's the amps not the volts".
Mischaracterizing electricity, magnetic induction, and even simply doing some bad math calculations. Some striking examples of bad science: electrons being positive or negative, AC producing stronger magnetic fields than DC, 1 to 2 amps + 200 ohms from 110 volts, Fluorescence being dependent on "highly charged atmosphere", generating a "grand total" of power for an event, reducing the complicated story of how electricity kills (after spending several chapters on it!) to the simplistic "it's the amps not the volts".
September 22, 2017
The story is fascinating. Would be a great movie.
The writing was pretty brutal.
The writing was pretty brutal.
August 20, 2016
The book describes the battles and struggles that had led to the electrifying of America. Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, had discovered direct current electricity. However, a genius working for Edison Nikola Tesla had discovered alternating current. Edison viewed alternating current as dangerous. As a result, a man with a great business acumen, George Westinghouse lured Tesla to his company in Pittsburgh. Tesla also developed the induction motor which needed alternating current to work and created a more useful use for electricity.
Thomas Edison who held tremendous prestige as a world famous inventor did everything he could to discredit alternating current as too dangerous. The problem with direct current is that the power source had to be close to where the electricity was being distributed. On the other hand, alternating current power stations can be miles away from their intended release. Edison had outfitted the New York elite with direct current to provide light at night. At the same time he had delegates apply alternating current to dogs to prove how deadly alternating current is. This act did not help Edison's case because the alternating current made the dogs suffer and the torturing of an animals alienated a lot of people.
Westinghouse and Tesla's alternating current won the debate. And it's usefulness came into fashion when a mammoth 6 million dollar undertaking took place by diverting water from Niagara Falls which culminated into producing alternating current electricity to businesses in Buffalo.
The most interesting part of the book is Chapter 13 "Afterward." The author, Jill Jones, described what happened to the 3 men most responsible for electrifying America. Thomas Edison, who relied on wealthy men's money to fund his adventures, was forced into a merger with a competitor, by JP Morgan who named the new business General Electric ultimately forcing Edison to quit his own company. Afterwards, Edison struggled for funds but did manage to develop a motion picture machine.
George Westinghouse, story is not as happy. He comes out of this book as a real good guy. His tremendous company had thousands of employees. He spared no expense on research and paid his employees well. This led his company into debt. Then when "the Panic of 1907" hit his creditors came to recoup their money. Westinghouse tried to borrow but the Banks were broke. As a result, he filed for bankruptcy. He considered it just a set back and promised workers that they would get their jobs back. To get the business back he makes the company public to gain the money he needs. However, a hostile takeover of his business came shortly afterwards and he lost his company. Near his death he said, " if some day they say of me that with my work I have contributed something to the welfare and happiness of my fellow men, I shall be satisfied." He can rest being very satisfied.
Nikola Tesla is another story. His genius in electricity had made him a celebrity. However, when he needed money to fund his scientific adventures he came under JP Morgan’s money spell. Morgan lent him money but forced him to hand over Tesla’s patents for his discoveries in return. Without regard to the necessary time it takes for such an undertaking as Tesla’s goal of producing one electric generator to produce electrify for the whole country, Morgan pulled the plug on him. Tesla, without any income asked Morgan for money. Morgan flatly refused. The Waldorf Astoria in NYC was kind enough to let Tesla live there for free. Then when JP Morgan died his son generously provided Tesla with a stipend.
Tesla retired as an eccentric living with his beloved pigeon.
The characteristic which was most evident in both Edison and Westinghouse was their optimism. Nothing dissuaded their pursuit of producing electricity. And all three had a tremendous vision of what was then thought of as impossible. There is nothing more important than this discovery which made life easier and more pleasant.
Thomas Edison who held tremendous prestige as a world famous inventor did everything he could to discredit alternating current as too dangerous. The problem with direct current is that the power source had to be close to where the electricity was being distributed. On the other hand, alternating current power stations can be miles away from their intended release. Edison had outfitted the New York elite with direct current to provide light at night. At the same time he had delegates apply alternating current to dogs to prove how deadly alternating current is. This act did not help Edison's case because the alternating current made the dogs suffer and the torturing of an animals alienated a lot of people.
Westinghouse and Tesla's alternating current won the debate. And it's usefulness came into fashion when a mammoth 6 million dollar undertaking took place by diverting water from Niagara Falls which culminated into producing alternating current electricity to businesses in Buffalo.
The most interesting part of the book is Chapter 13 "Afterward." The author, Jill Jones, described what happened to the 3 men most responsible for electrifying America. Thomas Edison, who relied on wealthy men's money to fund his adventures, was forced into a merger with a competitor, by JP Morgan who named the new business General Electric ultimately forcing Edison to quit his own company. Afterwards, Edison struggled for funds but did manage to develop a motion picture machine.
George Westinghouse, story is not as happy. He comes out of this book as a real good guy. His tremendous company had thousands of employees. He spared no expense on research and paid his employees well. This led his company into debt. Then when "the Panic of 1907" hit his creditors came to recoup their money. Westinghouse tried to borrow but the Banks were broke. As a result, he filed for bankruptcy. He considered it just a set back and promised workers that they would get their jobs back. To get the business back he makes the company public to gain the money he needs. However, a hostile takeover of his business came shortly afterwards and he lost his company. Near his death he said, " if some day they say of me that with my work I have contributed something to the welfare and happiness of my fellow men, I shall be satisfied." He can rest being very satisfied.
Nikola Tesla is another story. His genius in electricity had made him a celebrity. However, when he needed money to fund his scientific adventures he came under JP Morgan’s money spell. Morgan lent him money but forced him to hand over Tesla’s patents for his discoveries in return. Without regard to the necessary time it takes for such an undertaking as Tesla’s goal of producing one electric generator to produce electrify for the whole country, Morgan pulled the plug on him. Tesla, without any income asked Morgan for money. Morgan flatly refused. The Waldorf Astoria in NYC was kind enough to let Tesla live there for free. Then when JP Morgan died his son generously provided Tesla with a stipend.
Tesla retired as an eccentric living with his beloved pigeon.
The characteristic which was most evident in both Edison and Westinghouse was their optimism. Nothing dissuaded their pursuit of producing electricity. And all three had a tremendous vision of what was then thought of as impossible. There is nothing more important than this discovery which made life easier and more pleasant.
October 25, 2022
Jill Jonnes' "Empires of Light," Is by far the best book I have read about Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse and the electrifying of the world. Granted, I have only read a few books that cover all three of these geniuses.
Like so many people, I have been captivated by geniuses and by the types of lives they led, their social encounters and groups of friends, their heroes, and what makes them strive so ardently to achieve what they achieve. Not surprisingly, it is very seldom about money. It is usually a fascination with nature, with making the world they live in a better place (but not always), a burning desire to explain the unknown and to find answers to it, and they are usually very competitive.
Electricity has been around since the beginning of time, and was probably mentioned over a thousand years ago by a Greek inventor. Electricity, very simply, is part of nature and is witnessed anytime you see a thunderstorm. Neither Edison, Tesla, or Westinghouse were the first to come up with the idea of harnessing electricity and making use of it, but they were among the first to successfully shackle it's energy safely and to light up the world and make night into day and to forge ahead with what many consider the second industrial revolution.
The three men were quite familiar with each other, fighting over patents, occasionally working together, and in the case of Tesla and Westinghouse forming a partnership and creating the machinery to harness AC (alternating current) and lighting up the World's Fair in Chicago, and then using the power of Niagara Falls (AC and DC/Direct current) to light up the city of Buffalo that was over thirty miles away and by doing so changing the world, and making possible the reality of one main power station lighting up tens of thousands of businesses and homes miles and miles away.
The contributions of all three men can not be overstated, but without the talented engineers working for them none of this would have been possible so quickly. Edison and Westinghouse literally housed many of their workers and in the case of Westinghouse he treated his workers like family. Tesla was more like a loose cannon and when he first came to America from Serbia he worked for Thomas Edison who at that time was considered the greatest inventor of his time. He asked for a raise and was fired by Edison. He became a free agent and was picked up by Westinghouse and together, and with a group of highly talented engineers, they picked up where Edison left off. Edison refused to acknowledge the advantages of AC over DC current, and where he continued to use DC current to light up single homes and small city blocks it was AC current and the engineers' ability to transform it into direct current as it entered work places and homes that transformed the world.
Both Edison and Westinghouse died rich but the really big winners when it came to money was the WALL STREET INVESTORS who bought out their companies and made billions, if not trillions. Inventing is a costly business and without investors you are not usually going to have much of a chance. Tesla, who arguably was the greatest genius and inventor of the three, died penniless.
Like so many people, I have been captivated by geniuses and by the types of lives they led, their social encounters and groups of friends, their heroes, and what makes them strive so ardently to achieve what they achieve. Not surprisingly, it is very seldom about money. It is usually a fascination with nature, with making the world they live in a better place (but not always), a burning desire to explain the unknown and to find answers to it, and they are usually very competitive.
Electricity has been around since the beginning of time, and was probably mentioned over a thousand years ago by a Greek inventor. Electricity, very simply, is part of nature and is witnessed anytime you see a thunderstorm. Neither Edison, Tesla, or Westinghouse were the first to come up with the idea of harnessing electricity and making use of it, but they were among the first to successfully shackle it's energy safely and to light up the world and make night into day and to forge ahead with what many consider the second industrial revolution.
The three men were quite familiar with each other, fighting over patents, occasionally working together, and in the case of Tesla and Westinghouse forming a partnership and creating the machinery to harness AC (alternating current) and lighting up the World's Fair in Chicago, and then using the power of Niagara Falls (AC and DC/Direct current) to light up the city of Buffalo that was over thirty miles away and by doing so changing the world, and making possible the reality of one main power station lighting up tens of thousands of businesses and homes miles and miles away.
The contributions of all three men can not be overstated, but without the talented engineers working for them none of this would have been possible so quickly. Edison and Westinghouse literally housed many of their workers and in the case of Westinghouse he treated his workers like family. Tesla was more like a loose cannon and when he first came to America from Serbia he worked for Thomas Edison who at that time was considered the greatest inventor of his time. He asked for a raise and was fired by Edison. He became a free agent and was picked up by Westinghouse and together, and with a group of highly talented engineers, they picked up where Edison left off. Edison refused to acknowledge the advantages of AC over DC current, and where he continued to use DC current to light up single homes and small city blocks it was AC current and the engineers' ability to transform it into direct current as it entered work places and homes that transformed the world.
Both Edison and Westinghouse died rich but the really big winners when it came to money was the WALL STREET INVESTORS who bought out their companies and made billions, if not trillions. Inventing is a costly business and without investors you are not usually going to have much of a chance. Tesla, who arguably was the greatest genius and inventor of the three, died penniless.
February 19, 2020
Internet memes will tell you Tesla good, Edison bad. Life, of course is more complicated than that.
This book focuses on the battle to light the world. Edison arrives with Direct Current. On one hand, it's safe. On the other hand, it's completely impractical in the idea of lighting the world on large scale. As the competition, George Westinghouse and the team behind Direct Current.
Edison is the workaholic genius. He is unhip these days, but he really is an American legend. His fault may be that he wants to get paid every time anyone uses one of his invention, but that is a human failing that I think any of us would feel sympathy toward.
Westinghouse, the businessman is hardly a caricature either. So private, biographers struggle to understand him. One might guess he was one of the Robber Barons of the day, but he wasn't. He wanted to make money, lots of it, for sure, but he is generally well-liked and put money back into his business.
With stakes so high, it's no surprise that it's a Knock-down drag-out fight with lawsuits over patents and worse. Proponents of Direct Current warn of the dangers of the new technology, going so far as advocating for Alternating Current be used as the preferred method of execution.
There are two major battles in this war. The first is the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, in which Westinghouse pulls off the improbable. The next is a few years later in which Westinghouse (with Tesla's technology) manages to harness the power of Niagara Falls.
This book is in the mode of recent History books made popular by Erik Larsen. There are plenty of antidotes and trivia. Jonnes gives us a decent history of Electricity before Edison comes onto the scene. It makes for an interesting story. At times, it does get dense, even tedious; and at times, Jonnes's writing is if not amateur-ish, at least blog-ish.
It is interesting, of course, someone was the first to realize if I turn off a few lights in my house, I can save some money. I don't need to have the every room lighted. Ha!
Tesla is an interesting character. A genius but also an eccentric. To his credit, he saved the Westinghouse company, by giving them control of his patents. The world essentially owes Tesla for the use of electricity and radio, with little benefit to himself.
He does for the most part, live a charmed life because of it, as a celebrity inventor. He is wildly eccentric (everything he deals with has to be divisible by three) and as he grows older, no one is willing to invest in his grand ideas. It's the great "What If?"- would his grand ideas have revolutionized the world in amazing ways, or would they have been a colossal waste of money. In any case, JP Morgan and others would not be willing to take the gamble. One also wonders how much we lost when a fire destroys Tesla's lab and many of his notes.
It is interesting of course to think of electricity as a new technology, and how wondrous it must have been, and so exciting, it spread quickly. This book had a lot of interesting stories and with the caveats above, I enjoyed it.
This book focuses on the battle to light the world. Edison arrives with Direct Current. On one hand, it's safe. On the other hand, it's completely impractical in the idea of lighting the world on large scale. As the competition, George Westinghouse and the team behind Direct Current.
Edison is the workaholic genius. He is unhip these days, but he really is an American legend. His fault may be that he wants to get paid every time anyone uses one of his invention, but that is a human failing that I think any of us would feel sympathy toward.
Westinghouse, the businessman is hardly a caricature either. So private, biographers struggle to understand him. One might guess he was one of the Robber Barons of the day, but he wasn't. He wanted to make money, lots of it, for sure, but he is generally well-liked and put money back into his business.
With stakes so high, it's no surprise that it's a Knock-down drag-out fight with lawsuits over patents and worse. Proponents of Direct Current warn of the dangers of the new technology, going so far as advocating for Alternating Current be used as the preferred method of execution.
There are two major battles in this war. The first is the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, in which Westinghouse pulls off the improbable. The next is a few years later in which Westinghouse (with Tesla's technology) manages to harness the power of Niagara Falls.
This book is in the mode of recent History books made popular by Erik Larsen. There are plenty of antidotes and trivia. Jonnes gives us a decent history of Electricity before Edison comes onto the scene. It makes for an interesting story. At times, it does get dense, even tedious; and at times, Jonnes's writing is if not amateur-ish, at least blog-ish.
It is interesting, of course, someone was the first to realize if I turn off a few lights in my house, I can save some money. I don't need to have the every room lighted. Ha!
Tesla is an interesting character. A genius but also an eccentric. To his credit, he saved the Westinghouse company, by giving them control of his patents. The world essentially owes Tesla for the use of electricity and radio, with little benefit to himself.
He does for the most part, live a charmed life because of it, as a celebrity inventor. He is wildly eccentric (everything he deals with has to be divisible by three) and as he grows older, no one is willing to invest in his grand ideas. It's the great "What If?"- would his grand ideas have revolutionized the world in amazing ways, or would they have been a colossal waste of money. In any case, JP Morgan and others would not be willing to take the gamble. One also wonders how much we lost when a fire destroys Tesla's lab and many of his notes.
It is interesting of course to think of electricity as a new technology, and how wondrous it must have been, and so exciting, it spread quickly. This book had a lot of interesting stories and with the caveats above, I enjoyed it.
January 29, 2018
INTERESTING AND INFORMATIVE
“No more will men be slaves to hard tasks. My motor will set them free, it will do the work of the world.” [—Nikola Teslar] (Kindle Locations 1578-1579)
Although reading Empires of Light: Edison, Teslar, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World, by Jill Jonnes was a bit of a slog at times, its wealth of interesting anecdotes and solid information makes it a four-star read. From Thomas Edison’s promotion of his competitor’s, George Westinghouse’s, high-voltage AC current for the electric chair (for its negative publicity value), to the building of the huge turbines for the first hydro-electric installation at Niagara Falls, to the amazing electric dreams of Nikola Tesla—there’s plenty here to spark the imagination.
Recommendation: For keen insights into the dawn of the age, and of the business of electricity, this is an excellent place to start.
“Great indeed are the powers of electricity.” (Kindle Location 5681)
Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 7,512 Kindle Locations, 464 pages.
“No more will men be slaves to hard tasks. My motor will set them free, it will do the work of the world.” [—Nikola Teslar] (Kindle Locations 1578-1579)
Although reading Empires of Light: Edison, Teslar, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World, by Jill Jonnes was a bit of a slog at times, its wealth of interesting anecdotes and solid information makes it a four-star read. From Thomas Edison’s promotion of his competitor’s, George Westinghouse’s, high-voltage AC current for the electric chair (for its negative publicity value), to the building of the huge turbines for the first hydro-electric installation at Niagara Falls, to the amazing electric dreams of Nikola Tesla—there’s plenty here to spark the imagination.
Recommendation: For keen insights into the dawn of the age, and of the business of electricity, this is an excellent place to start.
“Great indeed are the powers of electricity.” (Kindle Location 5681)
Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 7,512 Kindle Locations, 464 pages.
October 31, 2021
The electrification of the USA at the end of the 19th century featured competition between two technologies (each with its own strengths and weaknesses): direct and alternating current, and each had its own special champion: Edison for direct and Nikola Tesla, who advocated alternating current and invented many of the machines that we still use. This was the era of trusts and robber barons, so the contest was hard-fought. When approached by the committee set up by the State of New York to examine electrocution as a humane alternative to hanging condemned criminals, Edison recommended the ac equipment built by his rival George Westinghouse, as he considered ac to be too dangerous for regular use. All in all, this book is a tale well-told about how and why the electrical grid we all take for granted was started in the United States. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
November 17, 2017
I’ve been sitting on writing this review for the last couple weeks because my thoughts were all over the place with it, but that hasn’t seemed to have changed with time. I think it’s a sign.
Empires of Light covered every base that you can likely think of within the realm of electricity and how it evolved into an everyday convenience. While the scope is narrowed, in theory, to the contributions and legacies of Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and George Westinghouse, the fact that these were the big three in their field was casting the net a bit wide. Among other things, attention was paid to: the legal battles that arose from this new technology and the battle for supremacy over it by these three men; the science behind creating, storing, transporting, and using electricity; its application in crime and punishment; and societal issues. And that just barely touches the surface here. There was an extensive amount of information here and much of it was physics and very technical, which went WAY over my head (seeing as I never took physics in school). I think my husband would have a greater appreciation for this aspect of the book than I would as he is very into that area of science. This felt especially true in the section about Tesla and his extensive work on alternating current. He was a man ahead of his time for sure and in some ways still is in my opinion.
While the technical aspects of the science went beyond what I could really appreciate (to be honest, my eyes sort of glazed over during that segment) I found the societal implications of electricity to be fascinating. My area of expertise being crime and sociology there was plenty to pique my interest. The use of electricity as a means of punishment was new at that time and the author took a painstaking interest in describing for the reader just how those early attempts at the death penalty went. I will strongly recommend you not be eating during this section and possibly skipping it if you have a weak stomach or don’t want to be exposed to basically the torture of people and animals in the name of science. It grossed me out and I have a pretty high tolerance for reading about that kind of stuff in a historical context. I was able to make ties between this book and Devil in the White City by Erik Larson because Edison makes a large contribution to the electrical demonstration in the Columbian Exposition which was also a focal point of that book too. While I struggled with some of the science, there was a lot that I could get behind here too.
Audiobook Discussion
I think I would have been better off reading this book in print over listening to it on audio for a couple reasons. I think with the subject matter being something almost beyond my ability to comprehend it, if reading in print I would have been more apt to put it down, look some things up, and then come back to it. Having it in my ear, I just let it keep running past things I didn’t know. It also felt very heavy and dense being read to me, it just couldn’t keep my attention for long periods of time; I would have to listen to it in 15 or 20 minute intervals which made for a long reading period in order to finish this book. I also had a little struggle with settling in with the narrator. His manner of speech and intonation always made it sound like he was asking a question at the end of every sentence. It took me a LONG TIME to get past this being an issue that was driving me to distraction (also probably a contributing factor in my need to only listen to short bursts at a time). A different choice of narrator might have made it more palatable, but I still stand by the concept that the material here is just a little dense for the casual reader to be comfortable with, however if you are an engineer or has a solid grasp of physics where the technical aspects of electricity are commonplace, you might not have as difficult a listen as I did.
This review was previously posted on The Maiden's Court blog, and a copy was received for review.
Empires of Light covered every base that you can likely think of within the realm of electricity and how it evolved into an everyday convenience. While the scope is narrowed, in theory, to the contributions and legacies of Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and George Westinghouse, the fact that these were the big three in their field was casting the net a bit wide. Among other things, attention was paid to: the legal battles that arose from this new technology and the battle for supremacy over it by these three men; the science behind creating, storing, transporting, and using electricity; its application in crime and punishment; and societal issues. And that just barely touches the surface here. There was an extensive amount of information here and much of it was physics and very technical, which went WAY over my head (seeing as I never took physics in school). I think my husband would have a greater appreciation for this aspect of the book than I would as he is very into that area of science. This felt especially true in the section about Tesla and his extensive work on alternating current. He was a man ahead of his time for sure and in some ways still is in my opinion.
While the technical aspects of the science went beyond what I could really appreciate (to be honest, my eyes sort of glazed over during that segment) I found the societal implications of electricity to be fascinating. My area of expertise being crime and sociology there was plenty to pique my interest. The use of electricity as a means of punishment was new at that time and the author took a painstaking interest in describing for the reader just how those early attempts at the death penalty went. I will strongly recommend you not be eating during this section and possibly skipping it if you have a weak stomach or don’t want to be exposed to basically the torture of people and animals in the name of science. It grossed me out and I have a pretty high tolerance for reading about that kind of stuff in a historical context. I was able to make ties between this book and Devil in the White City by Erik Larson because Edison makes a large contribution to the electrical demonstration in the Columbian Exposition which was also a focal point of that book too. While I struggled with some of the science, there was a lot that I could get behind here too.
Audiobook Discussion
I think I would have been better off reading this book in print over listening to it on audio for a couple reasons. I think with the subject matter being something almost beyond my ability to comprehend it, if reading in print I would have been more apt to put it down, look some things up, and then come back to it. Having it in my ear, I just let it keep running past things I didn’t know. It also felt very heavy and dense being read to me, it just couldn’t keep my attention for long periods of time; I would have to listen to it in 15 or 20 minute intervals which made for a long reading period in order to finish this book. I also had a little struggle with settling in with the narrator. His manner of speech and intonation always made it sound like he was asking a question at the end of every sentence. It took me a LONG TIME to get past this being an issue that was driving me to distraction (also probably a contributing factor in my need to only listen to short bursts at a time). A different choice of narrator might have made it more palatable, but I still stand by the concept that the material here is just a little dense for the casual reader to be comfortable with, however if you are an engineer or has a solid grasp of physics where the technical aspects of electricity are commonplace, you might not have as difficult a listen as I did.
This review was previously posted on The Maiden's Court blog, and a copy was received for review.
November 22, 2017
This is a great read, entertaining and certainly educational. I love how Jonnes wraps in historical details of the time, and paints a picture of what life was like at the time that the electricity war raged. The book took me a long time to get through though. While it was interesting, I think the density of it led me to distraction pretty quickly. But in the end I loved getting to know the main characters in such a drastic technological time.
October 10, 2016
If you thought the patent wars between Apple and Samsung over smartphone design are messy and adversarial, Empires of Light documents a series of battles far more brutal, and with consequences arguably more epic. Unlike Apple and Samsung, this wasn't just about the rights to manufacture products that are technically identical to each other. This was a battle over rival technologies, personalities and competing visions of the future, fought at a time when most of the refined legal weaponry available to companies today were non-existent.
The initial chapters make for slow and relatively dull reading while Jonnes introduces us to the cast of characters in this battle. We are introduced to Edison, Tesla and Westinghouse. All three men would amass fortunes with their inventions and create wealth all around, but importantly, they were self-made men. This was in an age of inherited fortunes in an economy that was just beginning to mint industrial millionaires, starting with the railroad industry. Jonnes does a reasonable job portraying and describing the temperament of these people, but it feels incomplete. Tesla's education is left as somewhat of a mystery. After all, Tesla displayed a deep understanding of electromagnetism that seemed to have far outstripped Edison. Why was that? And while Westinghouse is described as a mechanical genius of sorts, there are few anecdotes or testimonies to bear out the hagiographic portrayal of his smarts. Jonnes also delves briefly into the history of electrical discoveries in these early parts of the book, which is pretty poorly done. Save for her description of the Leyden jar and Benjamin Franklin's experiments, I found myself at a loss trying to imagine and understand exactly how these experiments worked. Her portrayal of the battles between Volta and Galvani are similarly brushed over leaving the reader at a loss as to *why* they disagreed on the nature of currents. But this isn't a history of electricity per se, so perhaps glossing over these details is justifiable. Her treatment of Faraday's work is beautiful, and starts to set the tone for the feverish pace of innovation in the electricity industry dominated by the big three.
Jonnes charts the rise of Edison's eminence in the electricity industry nicely, providing thrilling accounts of the race to finish his Pearl Street DC generating station in New York, and the numerous challenges they faced. Perhaps most vivid is her description of Edison's team's furious experimentation with the light bulb, which were the basis of the key patents that would be Edison's chief weapons against Westinghouse Electric. Edison's championing of DC is famous, but I wish the author had gone into more detail as to why Edison opposed AC as much. It's clear that Edison's understanding of AC was flawed, but why it was so flawed rarely gets touched upon throughout the book. Similarly, the roots of Tesla's genius is wholly unclear and undocumented by the author, as is the environment of Tesla's laboratory where he seemed to be thinking far into the future. The biggest let-down perhaps is a clear technical explanation as to why Tesla's polyphase AC circuits were superior in design to DC. Or why AC provided long-distance transmission advantages over DC. To me, the lack of technical detail was a big letdown. These men were interesting personalities in business no doubt, but they were known as innovators and any portrait of them is incomplete without some technical appreciation of their inventions.
Once the book approaches the start of the "War of the Electric Currents", the book shifts gear and becomes quite unrecognizable from the slow pace of the first segments of the book. Jonnes' blow-by-blow portrayal of the corporate battles between Edison's DC systems and Westinghouse Electric's AC systems are giddying. Jonnes keeps her list of characters in this battle short, and does an amazing job of keeping the reader informed of the chronology of unfolding events. I've seen few authors manage to do as good a job at this as Jonnes does. The first chapter documenting these events introduces colorful characters such as Harold Brown, whose inhuman experiments on killing dogs with AC currents to demonstrate their danger is a shock introduction and foreshadowing of how ugly future events in this battle would get.
The descriptions of the corporate battles Edison and Westinghouse waged is the meaty portion of the book. The acrimony and the stakes of the battle are clearly described, as is every battlefield on which it was fought. There were the light bulb patent battles in court, where Edison wanted to deliver the killing blow to all his competitors who had been manufacturing designs similar to his pioneering effort. There were the PR battles, where Edison launched wave after wave of attack, be it in helping establish death by the electric chair (using AC), in providing the notorious Harold Brown with laboratory space and money to carry out his cruel experiments, or in paying for caustic articles targetting Westinghouse in the papers. There were business battles too, with General Electric, formed from a forced merging of all of Edison's electricity companies, repeatedly trying to take over Westinghouse's firm. There was corporate espionage, where GE evidently stole Westinghouse's designs to build the distribution and generation system at Niagara Falls. And finally, there is the panic of 1893 where both rival firms fought for their own financial survival while still trading blows in court. I can't think of any modern day corporate battle that went on this long (seven years), and on this many fronts. Jonnes' writing pretty much puts you in the room with these people, and is quite an emotional rollercoaster with the changing fortunes of its chief players. It's a challenge to put down the book when you hit these parts. To me, the best writing in the book was the chapter detailing the circumstances around the first execution by the electric chair. It left me shaken.
Jonnes' breezy account of the corporate battles notwithstanding, there are quite a few details missing. What was happening in Europe during these times? Jonnes writes, for instance, that AC had been successfully transmitted 13 miles in Paris in 1893. Who did this experiment? And more importantly, what was the state of electrical advancement in Europe in general? The transformer patents that Westinghouse purchased for his company were designed and developed in Europe. Who were these people and what was their story? Similarly with the induction motor. Tesla did come up with the initial idea and design, but it was Westinghouse's huge investments that were needed to make a workable motor and generator based on his designs.This aspect of the development of AC is only mentioned in passing. There were other motor designs as well, but they do not find mention at all. Again, this robs the reader of a sense of appreciation of why Tesla's designs were superior, or why exactly Edison's light bulbs were so revolutionary.
Finally, I think the whole story serves as an inspiring story of innovation. All three men barely slept when they worked on their designs. Jonnes celebrates the culture of American innovation (albeit at the cost of forgetting about the rest of the world). These were three men who believed that no innovation was complete until it could be cheaply manufactured and sold in the market. This is a sentiment that would resurface in Bell Labs many years later, where the firm almost single-handedly conceived, designed, built and helped mass manufacture the transistor. The story of electricity was also a story of innovation styles - Edison believed in trying every combination of every material to get his lightbulb working, while Tesla genuinely tried to understand nature and believed in theory and calculations before setting off to build. Tesla's innovations and working style aren't mentioned in the book, which is a huge takeaway from the book, while Edison gets an undue amount of attention.
In the end, this is a racy story of the corporate battles that electrically got us to where we are today. But if you want a more technical and perhaps less hagiographic account of the field of electricity, this isn't the book you are looking for.
The initial chapters make for slow and relatively dull reading while Jonnes introduces us to the cast of characters in this battle. We are introduced to Edison, Tesla and Westinghouse. All three men would amass fortunes with their inventions and create wealth all around, but importantly, they were self-made men. This was in an age of inherited fortunes in an economy that was just beginning to mint industrial millionaires, starting with the railroad industry. Jonnes does a reasonable job portraying and describing the temperament of these people, but it feels incomplete. Tesla's education is left as somewhat of a mystery. After all, Tesla displayed a deep understanding of electromagnetism that seemed to have far outstripped Edison. Why was that? And while Westinghouse is described as a mechanical genius of sorts, there are few anecdotes or testimonies to bear out the hagiographic portrayal of his smarts. Jonnes also delves briefly into the history of electrical discoveries in these early parts of the book, which is pretty poorly done. Save for her description of the Leyden jar and Benjamin Franklin's experiments, I found myself at a loss trying to imagine and understand exactly how these experiments worked. Her portrayal of the battles between Volta and Galvani are similarly brushed over leaving the reader at a loss as to *why* they disagreed on the nature of currents. But this isn't a history of electricity per se, so perhaps glossing over these details is justifiable. Her treatment of Faraday's work is beautiful, and starts to set the tone for the feverish pace of innovation in the electricity industry dominated by the big three.
Jonnes charts the rise of Edison's eminence in the electricity industry nicely, providing thrilling accounts of the race to finish his Pearl Street DC generating station in New York, and the numerous challenges they faced. Perhaps most vivid is her description of Edison's team's furious experimentation with the light bulb, which were the basis of the key patents that would be Edison's chief weapons against Westinghouse Electric. Edison's championing of DC is famous, but I wish the author had gone into more detail as to why Edison opposed AC as much. It's clear that Edison's understanding of AC was flawed, but why it was so flawed rarely gets touched upon throughout the book. Similarly, the roots of Tesla's genius is wholly unclear and undocumented by the author, as is the environment of Tesla's laboratory where he seemed to be thinking far into the future. The biggest let-down perhaps is a clear technical explanation as to why Tesla's polyphase AC circuits were superior in design to DC. Or why AC provided long-distance transmission advantages over DC. To me, the lack of technical detail was a big letdown. These men were interesting personalities in business no doubt, but they were known as innovators and any portrait of them is incomplete without some technical appreciation of their inventions.
Once the book approaches the start of the "War of the Electric Currents", the book shifts gear and becomes quite unrecognizable from the slow pace of the first segments of the book. Jonnes' blow-by-blow portrayal of the corporate battles between Edison's DC systems and Westinghouse Electric's AC systems are giddying. Jonnes keeps her list of characters in this battle short, and does an amazing job of keeping the reader informed of the chronology of unfolding events. I've seen few authors manage to do as good a job at this as Jonnes does. The first chapter documenting these events introduces colorful characters such as Harold Brown, whose inhuman experiments on killing dogs with AC currents to demonstrate their danger is a shock introduction and foreshadowing of how ugly future events in this battle would get.
The descriptions of the corporate battles Edison and Westinghouse waged is the meaty portion of the book. The acrimony and the stakes of the battle are clearly described, as is every battlefield on which it was fought. There were the light bulb patent battles in court, where Edison wanted to deliver the killing blow to all his competitors who had been manufacturing designs similar to his pioneering effort. There were the PR battles, where Edison launched wave after wave of attack, be it in helping establish death by the electric chair (using AC), in providing the notorious Harold Brown with laboratory space and money to carry out his cruel experiments, or in paying for caustic articles targetting Westinghouse in the papers. There were business battles too, with General Electric, formed from a forced merging of all of Edison's electricity companies, repeatedly trying to take over Westinghouse's firm. There was corporate espionage, where GE evidently stole Westinghouse's designs to build the distribution and generation system at Niagara Falls. And finally, there is the panic of 1893 where both rival firms fought for their own financial survival while still trading blows in court. I can't think of any modern day corporate battle that went on this long (seven years), and on this many fronts. Jonnes' writing pretty much puts you in the room with these people, and is quite an emotional rollercoaster with the changing fortunes of its chief players. It's a challenge to put down the book when you hit these parts. To me, the best writing in the book was the chapter detailing the circumstances around the first execution by the electric chair. It left me shaken.
Jonnes' breezy account of the corporate battles notwithstanding, there are quite a few details missing. What was happening in Europe during these times? Jonnes writes, for instance, that AC had been successfully transmitted 13 miles in Paris in 1893. Who did this experiment? And more importantly, what was the state of electrical advancement in Europe in general? The transformer patents that Westinghouse purchased for his company were designed and developed in Europe. Who were these people and what was their story? Similarly with the induction motor. Tesla did come up with the initial idea and design, but it was Westinghouse's huge investments that were needed to make a workable motor and generator based on his designs.This aspect of the development of AC is only mentioned in passing. There were other motor designs as well, but they do not find mention at all. Again, this robs the reader of a sense of appreciation of why Tesla's designs were superior, or why exactly Edison's light bulbs were so revolutionary.
Finally, I think the whole story serves as an inspiring story of innovation. All three men barely slept when they worked on their designs. Jonnes celebrates the culture of American innovation (albeit at the cost of forgetting about the rest of the world). These were three men who believed that no innovation was complete until it could be cheaply manufactured and sold in the market. This is a sentiment that would resurface in Bell Labs many years later, where the firm almost single-handedly conceived, designed, built and helped mass manufacture the transistor. The story of electricity was also a story of innovation styles - Edison believed in trying every combination of every material to get his lightbulb working, while Tesla genuinely tried to understand nature and believed in theory and calculations before setting off to build. Tesla's innovations and working style aren't mentioned in the book, which is a huge takeaway from the book, while Edison gets an undue amount of attention.
In the end, this is a racy story of the corporate battles that electrically got us to where we are today. But if you want a more technical and perhaps less hagiographic account of the field of electricity, this isn't the book you are looking for.
October 5, 2020
The famous story of the Battle of the Currents. Surprisingly, of the title's threesome it is Westinghouse - not the Tesla beloved by Silicon Valley - who is Jonnes' hero, portrayed as a fair and sensible businessman, in contrast to the conniving dirtbag Edison, who tried to hold back and besmirch AC electricity purely for pecuniary gain.
Jonnes begins her tale with a good overview of the early development and commercialization of electricity, from Benjamin Franklin's experiments using Leyden jars to store electricity, to Volta's invention of the battery, and Faraday (one of best physicists of all time) discovering how to transfer electricity through magnetic induction - electromagnetic charge being a universal currency, which enabled Tesla's AC power (transferred long distances at high voltage, and then stepped down by transformers at the destination nodes in the grid).
There is lots of detail about the first botched electrical execution, a method surreptitiously promoted by Edison to link high-voltage electricity with danger. (Edison executives suggested the term westinghousing for electrocution "in the same way that Dr. Guillotine’s name was forever immortalized in France".) But by the time of the Chicago World Fair it was clear that Westinghouse's AC system had triumphed, further underlined by the great AC electrification of Niagara Falls. Edison got his just deserts: he was "Morganised" during the depression of the 1890s, taken over by the great financier, and his name was erased from the resulting company, General Electric. They continued his legacy with espionage and stock manipulation in failed attempts to destroy Westinghouse.
Westinghouse himself was ultimately ousted by those same East Coast bankers, who had long angled to take over his business and reduce his outlays on R&D. (Today the company is owned by the Redstone family corporate behemoth ViacomCBS.) In the illiquid, unregulated environment of the 1890s, possessors of capital had the upper hand over entrepreneurs. But as Matt Levine has written, in today's persistently deflationary environment capital is cheap and it is ideas that are valuable, leading to innovations like dual-class IPOs which give founders control in perpetuity, and shareholders can like it or lump it. Tesla would have loved this. The end of his life was subdued: having nobly given up his profits from AC to help his friend Westinghouse during the 1890s, he fell on hard times. He invented radio but lost out on the profits to Marconi (a posthumous court case confirmed his precedence), and spent an inordinate amount of time talking to pigeons.
Jonnes' writing style is charmingly anachronistic, drawn from the period she writes about. Her simple language conveys some of the poetry of the age when day was lit up as night - one of the wonders, along with the automobile and aeroplane, which so utterly erased the world known to our ancestors.
Jonnes begins her tale with a good overview of the early development and commercialization of electricity, from Benjamin Franklin's experiments using Leyden jars to store electricity, to Volta's invention of the battery, and Faraday (one of best physicists of all time) discovering how to transfer electricity through magnetic induction - electromagnetic charge being a universal currency, which enabled Tesla's AC power (transferred long distances at high voltage, and then stepped down by transformers at the destination nodes in the grid).
There is lots of detail about the first botched electrical execution, a method surreptitiously promoted by Edison to link high-voltage electricity with danger. (Edison executives suggested the term westinghousing for electrocution "in the same way that Dr. Guillotine’s name was forever immortalized in France".) But by the time of the Chicago World Fair it was clear that Westinghouse's AC system had triumphed, further underlined by the great AC electrification of Niagara Falls. Edison got his just deserts: he was "Morganised" during the depression of the 1890s, taken over by the great financier, and his name was erased from the resulting company, General Electric. They continued his legacy with espionage and stock manipulation in failed attempts to destroy Westinghouse.
Westinghouse himself was ultimately ousted by those same East Coast bankers, who had long angled to take over his business and reduce his outlays on R&D. (Today the company is owned by the Redstone family corporate behemoth ViacomCBS.) In the illiquid, unregulated environment of the 1890s, possessors of capital had the upper hand over entrepreneurs. But as Matt Levine has written, in today's persistently deflationary environment capital is cheap and it is ideas that are valuable, leading to innovations like dual-class IPOs which give founders control in perpetuity, and shareholders can like it or lump it. Tesla would have loved this. The end of his life was subdued: having nobly given up his profits from AC to help his friend Westinghouse during the 1890s, he fell on hard times. He invented radio but lost out on the profits to Marconi (a posthumous court case confirmed his precedence), and spent an inordinate amount of time talking to pigeons.
Jonnes' writing style is charmingly anachronistic, drawn from the period she writes about. Her simple language conveys some of the poetry of the age when day was lit up as night - one of the wonders, along with the automobile and aeroplane, which so utterly erased the world known to our ancestors.
February 21, 2019
This was a wonderful little volume that filled in details for me on the War of the Currents, while also providing great background, and good information on George Westinghouse, Nikola Tesla, and Thomas Edison. I was fairly aware of Edison and Tesla, even if I didn't remember all of the details, and Jonnes does a great job explaining their origins, their triumphs, and their weaknesses as people. The rise of Edison and Tesla were told such that it was fun and I did not want to stop reading.
For me what really sets this off is the coverage of George Westinghouse. I only know the name of the company, and didn't realize he had such vision and seemed to be such a good employer or director of a company for the good of society in a day of "robber barons". His treatment of employees and his idea that profits are not the prime directive for his companies, but that progress and helping society really makes him shine.
The explanations of electricity are non-technical and so the reader should not worry about this being difficult to understand. The advantages and disadvantage of AC and DC as time went on are well-explained along with Tesla's crucial role in the AC motor (and Westinghouse in commercializing it). The dream of electricity for everyone to reduce hard labor is a goal that has come to fruition unlike even they imagined.
Just a nice, interesting story being told about an exciting time in the US's past, and about the rise of electricity and lighting. It's heavily US-centric, but that is where the War of the Currents mostly seemed to play out. If you'd like to learn more about Tesla, Edison, and Westinghouse, this is a great place to start.
One person that is missed in the analysis of the book are the accomplishments of Charles Steinmetz who was very important in the spreading of AC power, especially of 3 phase systems.
I should also add that the book has some repetitive phrases in descriptions of people, esp. JP Morgan, but that these didn't overly bother me.
(edited 02/20/2019 to add caveat about no mention of Charles Steinmitz and being clearer about "robber barons". 02/21/2019 went with 4 stars under further consideration)
For me what really sets this off is the coverage of George Westinghouse. I only know the name of the company, and didn't realize he had such vision and seemed to be such a good employer or director of a company for the good of society in a day of "robber barons". His treatment of employees and his idea that profits are not the prime directive for his companies, but that progress and helping society really makes him shine.
The explanations of electricity are non-technical and so the reader should not worry about this being difficult to understand. The advantages and disadvantage of AC and DC as time went on are well-explained along with Tesla's crucial role in the AC motor (and Westinghouse in commercializing it). The dream of electricity for everyone to reduce hard labor is a goal that has come to fruition unlike even they imagined.
Just a nice, interesting story being told about an exciting time in the US's past, and about the rise of electricity and lighting. It's heavily US-centric, but that is where the War of the Currents mostly seemed to play out. If you'd like to learn more about Tesla, Edison, and Westinghouse, this is a great place to start.
One person that is missed in the analysis of the book are the accomplishments of Charles Steinmetz who was very important in the spreading of AC power, especially of 3 phase systems.
I should also add that the book has some repetitive phrases in descriptions of people, esp. JP Morgan, but that these didn't overly bother me.
(edited 02/20/2019 to add caveat about no mention of Charles Steinmitz and being clearer about "robber barons". 02/21/2019 went with 4 stars under further consideration)
November 28, 2020
I liked this book because it was a mixture of history and science with a Pittsburgh connection (George Westinghouse). It took me a long time to finish it because I wanted to understand the science behind it so the first part of the book was slow. I found George Westinghouse to be a sympathetic person, Edison and Tesla, less so. I have never visited Niagara Falls but now I want to so I can better appreciate hydroelectic power. Much of the tension in the book was about using direct current (DC, Edison advocated for) versus alternating current (Tesla and Westinghouse). DC was lower in voltage and initially safer, but could not travel far. AC was initially more dangerous because of the higher voltage, but could travel much farther from where it was generated. DC electricity was most common in New York City. I remember my father telling me that my Mom lived for a while in an apartment in NYC that was wired for DC. When there was a blackout, her building was one of the few that kept its electricity (although the DC lights were pretty dim) because it was on its own DC system. This personal connection was cool for me.
August 20, 2019
I had a longer review, which got eaten by a refresh page, so tl;dr, this is an okay but light popular history, with Westinghouse and AC as the protagonist. It's best talking about the sensational safety maneuverings around the battle of the currents, including the first execution via electric chair, and gruesome public demos where dogs and horses were electrocuted, but it has a rather surface level take on technology and corporate politics. Still interested to compare electricity in 1890 to dotcoms in 1990, and contemporary Silicon Valley excess, and this book is probably more readable than David Nye's Electrifying America.
May 5, 2024
Finally finished this book 6 years after it was assigned to me for a study abroad trip. Very dense with lots of names to remember but very informative. Did not like the parts about electrocuting animals
March 11, 2022
It was great to read a history book and learn about the importance of electricity as a transformative technology through the ages. It is amazing that electricity was pretty much non-existent before the 1880s but it became widely used in the US by the 1930s, which just shows how quickly a revolutionary technology can spread if it brings immense benefits to users. Jones makes an example that there were many people in the 1920s without flushing toilets, but they had electricity in order to light their homes in the evening and listen to the radio. The example provides another indication of the far reaching implications of technological revolutions. Forgive me for pondering the potential implications of sound money through mass bitcoin adoption...
The book is more entertaining that purely factual as it is centred on the contributions of key figures of the time. Intriguing to hear how geniuses like Edison, Tesla and the lesser-known Westinghouse all had their strengths and weaknesses as they battled it out to bring electricity to the world. Edison invented the light bulb and was a hero of his time but was dead wrong about the viability of alternating current (AC), which led him down a less successful path for many years. Tesla was the brains behind AC and the radio, which both revolutionized the world, but he struggled to build commercially viable products. Westinghouse was a far superior businessman to Edison and Tesla. He had incredible success in the industry but still suffered immense financial challenges which eventually led to him losing control of his electricity company. Their personal experiences add a rich texture to life and keeps me sane as I experience the undulations of my own life.
After visiting the beautiful city myself last year, it gave me great personal pleasure that the history of Chicago was woven into the book. The World Trade Fair of the late 1890s was a pivotal event for the city and it displayed the prospects offered by electricity to the world. I also just enjoyed hearing a little more about numerous American cities in the story, which just makes me a little closer to the country in which I live.
The book triggered my love of history - it provides great context and it is wonderful to be inspired by the success and failures of the great characters of the past.
https://soundmoneymacro.com/2022/03/1...
The book is more entertaining that purely factual as it is centred on the contributions of key figures of the time. Intriguing to hear how geniuses like Edison, Tesla and the lesser-known Westinghouse all had their strengths and weaknesses as they battled it out to bring electricity to the world. Edison invented the light bulb and was a hero of his time but was dead wrong about the viability of alternating current (AC), which led him down a less successful path for many years. Tesla was the brains behind AC and the radio, which both revolutionized the world, but he struggled to build commercially viable products. Westinghouse was a far superior businessman to Edison and Tesla. He had incredible success in the industry but still suffered immense financial challenges which eventually led to him losing control of his electricity company. Their personal experiences add a rich texture to life and keeps me sane as I experience the undulations of my own life.
After visiting the beautiful city myself last year, it gave me great personal pleasure that the history of Chicago was woven into the book. The World Trade Fair of the late 1890s was a pivotal event for the city and it displayed the prospects offered by electricity to the world. I also just enjoyed hearing a little more about numerous American cities in the story, which just makes me a little closer to the country in which I live.
The book triggered my love of history - it provides great context and it is wonderful to be inspired by the success and failures of the great characters of the past.
https://soundmoneymacro.com/2022/03/1...
February 14, 2015
I discovered this book in the gift shop of Edison's winter home in July during a torrential downpour. At the time, lightning was crackling above a truly immense tree standing on the grounds, which was perhaps fortuitous.
If you've ever plugged in a lamp or an appliance, if you've ever had power go out in your neighborhood due to an overly exploratory squirrel, especially if you've ever shocked yourself changing out an outlet or a light fixture and wondered, "Why the hell did that happen," you should read this book.
Nobody thinks, in our current time, about the why and the how of electricity; how it gets to your house, how it makes the washer and dryer run, whether things could have been different.
It could have. Edison championed direct current (DC)... and if he'd won, you could have grabbed a naked wire anywhere in your home or on the street and received nothing more than a mild buzz. The requisite voltage for DC is so low that death by electrocution would be virtually unknown. Edison also believed all electricity supply wires should be buried below ground, so again... no downed wires, no accidental shocks, no overly exploratory squirrels. (Sorry California, earthquakes would probably still take out your electric...)
On the other hand... yeah. There's the kicker. On the other hand, you'd have to live within half a mile of the plant that produced your electricity. Which would probably suck. Your electric motors would require physical brushes as part of their workings, which would have to be replaced regularly... which would probably suck.
The AC transition, and Tesla's role in it in particular, are a heavy focus of the book and a huge reason to read it. How we got from an age when most people had naked pipes allowing gas into their homes for heat and light, to an age when a simple wire connection could power literally anything in your home for pennies a day... well, it's an interesting read.
If you've ever plugged in a lamp or an appliance, if you've ever had power go out in your neighborhood due to an overly exploratory squirrel, especially if you've ever shocked yourself changing out an outlet or a light fixture and wondered, "Why the hell did that happen," you should read this book.
Nobody thinks, in our current time, about the why and the how of electricity; how it gets to your house, how it makes the washer and dryer run, whether things could have been different.
It could have. Edison championed direct current (DC)... and if he'd won, you could have grabbed a naked wire anywhere in your home or on the street and received nothing more than a mild buzz. The requisite voltage for DC is so low that death by electrocution would be virtually unknown. Edison also believed all electricity supply wires should be buried below ground, so again... no downed wires, no accidental shocks, no overly exploratory squirrels. (Sorry California, earthquakes would probably still take out your electric...)
On the other hand... yeah. There's the kicker. On the other hand, you'd have to live within half a mile of the plant that produced your electricity. Which would probably suck. Your electric motors would require physical brushes as part of their workings, which would have to be replaced regularly... which would probably suck.
The AC transition, and Tesla's role in it in particular, are a heavy focus of the book and a huge reason to read it. How we got from an age when most people had naked pipes allowing gas into their homes for heat and light, to an age when a simple wire connection could power literally anything in your home for pennies a day... well, it's an interesting read.
September 23, 2009
In a way Jill Jonnes has accomplished what the principal subjects of her book did for the world; she sheds light on the evolution of the harnessing of electricity. What a fascinating tale it turns out to be! She identifies three main protagonists. They are Thomas Edison, Nicola Tesla and George Westinghouse. Numerous others precede them, like Galvani, and Benjamin Franklin, and there is an assortment of bit players in the history of electricity. Jonnes gives them their due. But Edison, Tesla and Westinghouse play the most significant roles in promoting the electrification of America, and ultimately, the world.
The story is more than the retelling of their genius for invention. It is also the drama of their struggle for supremacy as they attempt to define the role of this new technology for the betterment of mankind. Jonnes brings these characters to life as she chronicles their laborious steps to fashion their ideas into reality in the gritty streets of New York, the burgeoning industrial region of New Jersey, the brusque city on Lake Michigan – Chicago – and its fantastic World’s Fair. Development of alternate current as the preferred method of delivering electricity long distances culminates in the taming of Niagara Falls.
In this book we are reminded that what we now take for granted…the casual flip of a switch to turn on our lights, televisions, personal computers and other household appliances…did not evolve easily. The inventiveness and dogged persistence of the big three is what eventually transformed the magical, mystical attributes of electricity into the silent slave of modern industrialization.
The story is more than the retelling of their genius for invention. It is also the drama of their struggle for supremacy as they attempt to define the role of this new technology for the betterment of mankind. Jonnes brings these characters to life as she chronicles their laborious steps to fashion their ideas into reality in the gritty streets of New York, the burgeoning industrial region of New Jersey, the brusque city on Lake Michigan – Chicago – and its fantastic World’s Fair. Development of alternate current as the preferred method of delivering electricity long distances culminates in the taming of Niagara Falls.
In this book we are reminded that what we now take for granted…the casual flip of a switch to turn on our lights, televisions, personal computers and other household appliances…did not evolve easily. The inventiveness and dogged persistence of the big three is what eventually transformed the magical, mystical attributes of electricity into the silent slave of modern industrialization.
October 6, 2014
Jonnes takes a fascinating look at what is known as the War of Electric Currents--an all out corporate, scientific, patent, and journalistic battle between the likes of Edison (who wanted Direct Current Power), Tesla (who wanted Alternate Current Power), and dozens of other players, most notably Westinghouse, a fascinating scientist who may not have had the flair of Tesla but had the business acumen to bring Tesla's visions to the world.
Did you know that there were seven years of patent battles about whether or not Edison actually invented the light bulb? Or that public demonstrations of dog electrocutions were done to try to vilify Alternating Current, which led to the first, very botched and gruesome capital punishment electrocution? This and many other stories are woven together in this highly readable science history. This book does a great job painting the historical context of the time, explaining the science, and focusing on individuals and the role they played. I was frankly surprised at how much of a corporate battle this was, and at the fact that while there may have been a happy ending for electricity and society, there was not necessarily a happy ending for any of the main players who worked to bring it about.
Did you know that there were seven years of patent battles about whether or not Edison actually invented the light bulb? Or that public demonstrations of dog electrocutions were done to try to vilify Alternating Current, which led to the first, very botched and gruesome capital punishment electrocution? This and many other stories are woven together in this highly readable science history. This book does a great job painting the historical context of the time, explaining the science, and focusing on individuals and the role they played. I was frankly surprised at how much of a corporate battle this was, and at the fact that while there may have been a happy ending for electricity and society, there was not necessarily a happy ending for any of the main players who worked to bring it about.
August 19, 2015
I did not realize that there was such a battle over how electricity was to be delivered and that Thomas Edison was on the wrong side of the battle. But with that said it was most interesting to see how the merger of technology and investor financing resulted in the ultimate electrification of America. I enjoyed the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 16, 2020
If you, like me, have a burning need to know everything about the beginnings of electricity - well, you couldn't do much better than this book.
December 6, 2017
Empires of Light is less a history of how the United States became electrified and more a biography of three electrical titans – Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse -- as they pursued their own electrical projects in cooperation and bitter conflict. All three were passionate, heedless inventors who loved plowing their money in money into new ideas, sometimes at the cost of bankruptcy. They differed sharply on the best way to distribute electricity. Edison preferred the safe, expensive, and density-demanding direct current. Westinghouse and Tesla both viewed alternating current -- which was easy to ramp up the voltage or ‘speed’ of electricity, and transmit at long distances -- as far more promising, allowing them to reach places that didn’t have the population density of New York City or Pittsburg. Alternating current was more dangerous to work with, however, and Edison used his rivals’ volatility for all it was worth. When the State of New York considered using electricity for the death penalty, Edison – borrowing a page from Marc Anthony’s funeral speech lauding Caesar’s assassins – praised the merits of Westinghouse’s AC for killing people. He hopefully speculated that perhaps in the future death row would be the “westinghouse”, and killing someone with electricity would be a verb – “He was westinghoused”. Sheer economics, however, shifted favor to AC’s court, and by 1930 even Midwest towns could count on the lights being on. Edison would return to his phonograph and open the doors for moving pictures and Hollywood, while Tesla – whose AC projects had made possible the electrification of Niagra Falls – would drift from idea to idea, all of which were ‘ahead of their time’, and none of which ever became realized. One that came close was a radio-controlled mini-boat.
Although Empires is often entertaining – between chapters on patent wars, anyway – the combination of biography and business/technical history didn’t quite click for me, possibly because I was chiefly interested in the electrification of the US and less so in the projects (The White City, Niagra) that allowed Westinghouse to prove AC’s worth. Readers will glean only a flicker of information about the pace of electrical expansion, chiefly through the cited sales of AC light bulbs. These men certainly merit reading about: Edison and Tesla are both legends, but Westinghouse made his reputation in brilliant but boring improvements to railroad brakes and such, and his and Teslas’ expansion of the AC system accomplished the same for the electrical infrastructure of the US.
Related:
Phillip Schewe's The Grid: A Journey into the Heart of Our Electrified World is more about national electrification, but its history jumped from Edison's early attempts at municipal power transmission to governments co-opting power companies as public utilities.
Although Empires is often entertaining – between chapters on patent wars, anyway – the combination of biography and business/technical history didn’t quite click for me, possibly because I was chiefly interested in the electrification of the US and less so in the projects (The White City, Niagra) that allowed Westinghouse to prove AC’s worth. Readers will glean only a flicker of information about the pace of electrical expansion, chiefly through the cited sales of AC light bulbs. These men certainly merit reading about: Edison and Tesla are both legends, but Westinghouse made his reputation in brilliant but boring improvements to railroad brakes and such, and his and Teslas’ expansion of the AC system accomplished the same for the electrical infrastructure of the US.
Related:
Phillip Schewe's The Grid: A Journey into the Heart of Our Electrified World is more about national electrification, but its history jumped from Edison's early attempts at municipal power transmission to governments co-opting power companies as public utilities.
November 26, 2016
Centered on the Gilded Age race to proliferate electricity throughout America (and the world). Empires does a good job of profiling its three main subjects - Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse. Edison is by far the most well-known of the trio, but as with most heroic images in history the details of his ascent and life are obscured by space and time. The Tesla name is best know today for Elon Musk’s electric car brand which, in a small way, does homage to the first electrical wizard. Westinghouse is portrayed as the quintessential Gilded Age figure with the scientific abilities commensurate with Edison and Tesla and the financial prowess of a J.P. Morgan.
Edison’s development and patenting of the incandescent bulb put him at the forefront of the electric age and his use of direct current (DC) to power swaths of New York sought to cement his legacy and financial future. However, Edison and most of the scientific community prematurely dismissed the capabilities of alternating current (AC). Tesla and Westinghouse felt many of the criticisms false and the potential enormous (and somewhat uncontested with Edison’s primary focus on the perceived “safer” DC power). Soon Westinghouse’s AC units outnumbered Edison’s DC version, mostly thanks to the vast power possible through AC while its units could be stationed outside of a city (DC could only power businesses and homes within a small radius). The capability of AC power was portrayed in both the 1893 Chicago’s World Fair and the Niagara power station–the two main examples discussed in the book. In each case Tesla’s long-sought AC dynamo proved instrumental in taking raw AC power and stepping it up and down, altering it to DC as necessary, and providing the requisite power to the given instrument (be it an engine, incandescent or “stopper” light bulb).
These three gentlemen sent the conditions for modern lifestyle. Jonnes repeatedly uses the term “Promethean” to describe this triumvirate of inventors and I agree wholeheartedly. Today’s world is vastly different because of their contributions.
Lessons Learned:
A complex relationship between science and finance existed. Both Edison and Westinghouse can from humble beginnings to eventually become millionaires, whereas Tesla immigrated to the U.S. with little to his name but his groundbreaking ideas. Each of the inventors were more interested in scientific endeavors above making money and merely sought financial security to permit future experimentation. In early stages of research the relationship between Edison and J.P. Morgan, for instance, provided Edison the needed funds for continued research, distribution of his inventions, protection of patents from infringement, and exposure to the highest circles of New York elites. Tesla similarly benefitted from association with plutocratic investors and associates. Westinghouse meanwhile was not nearly as sociable, but leveraged Pittsburgh partners and New York financing when necessary, but always sought to retain ultimate control of his companies (something neither Edison nor Westinghouse were ultimately able to do). It appears that investors were satisfied to permit scientific minds to prove their theories, acquire patents and begin production, but wrested control when profits dictated (Edison General Electric combining with Thomson-Houston) or at the first sign of financial trouble (Westinghouse’s loss of the electric company after a planned bankruptcy). In Westinghouse’s case, the nation’s economic peril in the 1890s is partially at fault for his electric company’s demise. In both cases, the New York financial community laid in wait for the opportune time to latch themselves to the scientist’s lab coat tails and take control of the company. This reiterated the need for technology companies to invest in research and development, but also ensure company leadership is a good mix of scientists and businessmen. Tilting too much toward one side of this relationship is dangerous to company longevity.
Discount emerging technology at your own peril. Edison dismissed AC as a viable form of electricity (save for its use in electrocution of condemned prisoners). He, obviously, was wrong, but could only see the potential detractions of the more potent power. During this period, Westinghouse noted that progress cannot be stopped and continued to pursue AC despite the public backlash caused by several deaths (he contended that railroads and other emergent technologies had many, if not more, deaths associated with their routine usage).
Amazing Words:
Italianate - Italian in character of appearance Sobriquet - A person’s nickname Effulgence - brightness to the extreme Alacrity - brisk and cheerful readiness Agog - very eager or curious to hear or see something Frisson - a sudden feeling of excitement of fear; a thrill Perspicacious - having insight into or understanding of things Desiccated - remove the moisture to preserve something Abstruse - difficult to understand; obscure Chary - cautiously or suspiciously reluctant to do something Epoch - a period of time in history or a person’s life, typically one marked by notable events or particular characteristics Probity - the quality of having strong moral principles; honesty and decency Splenetic - bad-tempered; spiteful Aborning - while being born or produced Peripatetic - traveling from place to place, especially working or based in various places for relatively short periods Phlegmatic - (of a person) having an unemotional and stolidly calm disposition Vituperation - bitter and abusive language Macabre - gruesome; ghastly; grim Schadenfreude - pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune Habitué - a resident of or frequent visitor to a particular place Leonine - of or resembling a lion or lions. Calumnies - the making of false and defamatory statements in order to damage someone’s reputation; slander Raconteur - a person who tells anecdotes in a skillful and amusing way Cudgels - short thick stick used as a weapon Tristesse - a French word meaning sadness Parlous - full of danger or uncertainty; precarious Pusillanimous - showing a lack of courage or determination; timid Vicissitudes - a change of circumstances or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant Insouciance - casual lack of concern; indifference Supercilious - behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others Perfidious - deceitful and untrustworthy. Augur - (of an event or circumstance) portend a good or bad outcome Effulgent - shining brightly; radiant Coterie - a small group of people with shared interests or tastes, especially one that is exclusive of other people Impecunious - having little or no money Cognoscenti - people who are considered to be especially well informed about a particular subject Propitious - giving or indicating a good chance of success; favorable
Edison’s development and patenting of the incandescent bulb put him at the forefront of the electric age and his use of direct current (DC) to power swaths of New York sought to cement his legacy and financial future. However, Edison and most of the scientific community prematurely dismissed the capabilities of alternating current (AC). Tesla and Westinghouse felt many of the criticisms false and the potential enormous (and somewhat uncontested with Edison’s primary focus on the perceived “safer” DC power). Soon Westinghouse’s AC units outnumbered Edison’s DC version, mostly thanks to the vast power possible through AC while its units could be stationed outside of a city (DC could only power businesses and homes within a small radius). The capability of AC power was portrayed in both the 1893 Chicago’s World Fair and the Niagara power station–the two main examples discussed in the book. In each case Tesla’s long-sought AC dynamo proved instrumental in taking raw AC power and stepping it up and down, altering it to DC as necessary, and providing the requisite power to the given instrument (be it an engine, incandescent or “stopper” light bulb).
These three gentlemen sent the conditions for modern lifestyle. Jonnes repeatedly uses the term “Promethean” to describe this triumvirate of inventors and I agree wholeheartedly. Today’s world is vastly different because of their contributions.
Lessons Learned:
A complex relationship between science and finance existed. Both Edison and Westinghouse can from humble beginnings to eventually become millionaires, whereas Tesla immigrated to the U.S. with little to his name but his groundbreaking ideas. Each of the inventors were more interested in scientific endeavors above making money and merely sought financial security to permit future experimentation. In early stages of research the relationship between Edison and J.P. Morgan, for instance, provided Edison the needed funds for continued research, distribution of his inventions, protection of patents from infringement, and exposure to the highest circles of New York elites. Tesla similarly benefitted from association with plutocratic investors and associates. Westinghouse meanwhile was not nearly as sociable, but leveraged Pittsburgh partners and New York financing when necessary, but always sought to retain ultimate control of his companies (something neither Edison nor Westinghouse were ultimately able to do). It appears that investors were satisfied to permit scientific minds to prove their theories, acquire patents and begin production, but wrested control when profits dictated (Edison General Electric combining with Thomson-Houston) or at the first sign of financial trouble (Westinghouse’s loss of the electric company after a planned bankruptcy). In Westinghouse’s case, the nation’s economic peril in the 1890s is partially at fault for his electric company’s demise. In both cases, the New York financial community laid in wait for the opportune time to latch themselves to the scientist’s lab coat tails and take control of the company. This reiterated the need for technology companies to invest in research and development, but also ensure company leadership is a good mix of scientists and businessmen. Tilting too much toward one side of this relationship is dangerous to company longevity.
Discount emerging technology at your own peril. Edison dismissed AC as a viable form of electricity (save for its use in electrocution of condemned prisoners). He, obviously, was wrong, but could only see the potential detractions of the more potent power. During this period, Westinghouse noted that progress cannot be stopped and continued to pursue AC despite the public backlash caused by several deaths (he contended that railroads and other emergent technologies had many, if not more, deaths associated with their routine usage).
Amazing Words:
Italianate - Italian in character of appearance Sobriquet - A person’s nickname Effulgence - brightness to the extreme Alacrity - brisk and cheerful readiness Agog - very eager or curious to hear or see something Frisson - a sudden feeling of excitement of fear; a thrill Perspicacious - having insight into or understanding of things Desiccated - remove the moisture to preserve something Abstruse - difficult to understand; obscure Chary - cautiously or suspiciously reluctant to do something Epoch - a period of time in history or a person’s life, typically one marked by notable events or particular characteristics Probity - the quality of having strong moral principles; honesty and decency Splenetic - bad-tempered; spiteful Aborning - while being born or produced Peripatetic - traveling from place to place, especially working or based in various places for relatively short periods Phlegmatic - (of a person) having an unemotional and stolidly calm disposition Vituperation - bitter and abusive language Macabre - gruesome; ghastly; grim Schadenfreude - pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune Habitué - a resident of or frequent visitor to a particular place Leonine - of or resembling a lion or lions. Calumnies - the making of false and defamatory statements in order to damage someone’s reputation; slander Raconteur - a person who tells anecdotes in a skillful and amusing way Cudgels - short thick stick used as a weapon Tristesse - a French word meaning sadness Parlous - full of danger or uncertainty; precarious Pusillanimous - showing a lack of courage or determination; timid Vicissitudes - a change of circumstances or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant Insouciance - casual lack of concern; indifference Supercilious - behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others Perfidious - deceitful and untrustworthy. Augur - (of an event or circumstance) portend a good or bad outcome Effulgent - shining brightly; radiant Coterie - a small group of people with shared interests or tastes, especially one that is exclusive of other people Impecunious - having little or no money Cognoscenti - people who are considered to be especially well informed about a particular subject Propitious - giving or indicating a good chance of success; favorable
August 30, 2025
I think the main thing I got from this book is that I really wanted to listen to a biography of Tesla. I wasn't familiar with Westinghouse, and he seems like he was a cool dude, the "right" kind of millionaire. But the most fascinating part of the book was the afterward talking about Tesla's eventual post-electricity toils. He seems like he was a fascinating man.
Side note: Listened to this on Audible at 1.5 speed, and it honestly sounded normal. I have no idea why the narration was so slow!
Side note: Listened to this on Audible at 1.5 speed, and it honestly sounded normal. I have no idea why the narration was so slow!
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