Empires of Light (Jonnes)

I’ve always liked reading biographies of discoverers, a trait I think I inherited from my father. When I saw Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World mentioned in the WSJ, I quickly added it to my book queue. I was not disappointed. Jonnes has written a highly readable account of the early development of the electrical industry in America. Two of the principal players are immediately familiar: Edison, the folksy, somewhat egotistical inventor legendary for the incandescent bulb, the phonograph, and moving pictures (he still holds the individual record for most US patents issued) and Tesla, the weird Serbian who gave us Tesla coils and the now-indispensible AC induction motor. George Westinghouse, the third key figure, isn’t nearly as well-known, even though he arguably did more to get electricity deployed than the other two. Westinghouse was a savvy businessman, and I enjoyed the descriptions of his work with his employees– he sounds like a good boss.
Jonnes doesn’t spend an inordinate amount of time on explaining electrical technology, but she does a good job of focusing on the revolutionary aspect of electricity and the business battles between the key players (including the famous ploy by Edison and his supporters to put Westinghouse out of the electrical business by emphasizing the dangerous nature of AC systems.)
Jonnes excels at dropping in little details. For example, in the early 1900s, more than 95% of residents of Muncie, Indiana had electricity in their homes, even though at the same time more than two thirds of them still had outhouses. That’s the mark of a revolution. This book is highly readable, and highly recommended.
Update: Amazon recommended Executioner’s Current: Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the Invention of the Electric Chair. I’ll have to add that to my queue.