Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World

by Jill Jonnes

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375758844
• ISBN13: 9780375758843
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Random House Trade
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Takes an integrative approach (engineering, societal issues, financing).

EMPIRES OF LIGHT by Jill Jonnes is a 416 page history book. There are 16 pages of black & white photographs. Generally, the book is written at the level of a 16 year old. On the other hand, a couple of the chapters in this book cannot be understood without taking a college class in corporate business or financing. Also, for full appreciation of the book, you need to take a short course in electronics. The writing is not thorny or difficult or mannered. The cast of characters includes J. P. Morgan, Elisha Gray, Michael Faraday, and a handful of others. Elisha Gray was the inventor of the telephone. To learn more about Gray and his competitor, Alexander Bell, I recommend another fine book, THE TELEPHONE PATENT CONSPIRACY OF 1876 by A. E. Evenson. I also recommend, THE GATE:THE TRUE STORY OF THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE, by Van Der Zee, which takes the same integrative approach in weaving together the relationships between corporate engineers, engineers in academia, financiers, and societal issues. EMPIRES OF LIGHT provides fine journalistic writing to break up technical details relating to corporate financing and patents. Here is an example (page 247): "George Westinghouse was hurtling along in his private railcar, the Glen Eyre . . . locomotive began to clang its bells urgently, for it was speeding into an industrial amphitheater [Chicago] . . . endless reaches of factories, marshaling yards, slaughterhouses, grain elevators, iron mills, slag heaps . . . soot-covered cable cars." The following are some high points from the book: CHAPTER 5. We learn that Westinghouse (W.) invented a car replacer for fixing derailed trains, and a metal device for preventing derailing at junctions, an air brake (invented at age 22). In 1881 (age 34), he bought patents claiming train signals, and hired H.Byllesby away from Edison, to develop light bulbs for W. In 1885, W. read an article on alternating current (AC) generators and AC transformers, and decided that the future of the world resided in far-off waterfalls turning AC generators, and long-distance transmission of AC. The article was about the Gaulard-Gibbs system. W. bought the patents of Lucien Gaulard and John Gibbs (p. 123). We learn that Michael Faraday had actually invented the very first transformer and generator in 1831. Faraday's machines worked only with AC, because AC created the required magnetic field. W. re-designed the Gaulard-Gibbs transformer. We learn that all of W.'s electricians were against AC at first. In 1886, W. demonstrated use of AC to transmit 500V, in conjunction with transformers to step down the voltage to 100V (suitable for use for lighting in homes). By 1886, W. had 27 customers. But at this point, Edison initiated his hate campaign against AC, which involved public executions of dogs using AC (p. 139). CHAPTER 6. We learn about a Rumanian boy who was killed from AC from downed wires. This occurred April 15, 1888 on East B

So Good They Should Make It a Movie

This book is so good they could make it into a movie. I've worked for an electrical power utility for over 38 years and I'm a history buff so this was a double pleasure for me. Jill Jonnes gives us a fascinating look at the origins of electrical power in the U.S. There is something here for everyone: the macabre account of the first execution by electrocution, and the equally gut-wrenching story of the lineman in New York who died a horrible death dangling from high-voltage wires forty feet above the pavement. His body burned and spewed blood while the frightened onlookers could do nothing to save him. Then there is the inspiring story of Edison, Westinghouse and Tesla, the three who get the most credit for advancing and solidifying electrical power as a viable business in the U.S. Whether they were "geniuses" or not is a matter of your own perspective. They were certainly workaholics who had extraordinary intelligence and vision about what could be done with new technology. (Edison once worked five days straight while inventing the phonograph.) There was a great battle between alternating and direct current. Edison stubbornly fought AC all the way. He felt it was unsafe for use by the general public because of the danger of lethal electric shock. He bragged that with his DC system, anyone would survive accidental contact, although the proponents of AC led by Westinghouse countered with the fact that Edison's DC system had caused many fires, both in customers' houses and in the central generating plants. The author points out that Edison may have had another reason, his own pride. Anyone in the business at that time could see the obvious advantage of AC over DC. DC was limited to about a one-mile radius of the generator, where AC could be transmitted several miles by stepping voltage up or down as needed with Westinghouse's new transformers. And once Tesla's AC two-phase motor was developed for commercial use, Edison's DC system was doomed. Tesla turned into a sort of benevolent mad scientist after the Niagara project--Dr. Frankenstein with his gigantic Tesla coils, shooting lightning into the atmosphere. At one point his lab pulled so much power he caused the Colorado Springs powerhouse to trip off line, throwing the entire area into a blackout. Tesla's visionary dream, apparently, was to develop a means of transmitting power wirelessly. All humanity could tap into the standing wave generated by the Tesla coils, or whatever, and thereby receive free electricity. Tesla naturally needed huge financial support for this and he turned to J.P. Morgan who had financed the Niagara project and many other large ventures. But Morgan had seen too many of Tesla's projects come to naught, so he declined to back any more of them. Among Tesla's many experiments were the fluorescent light and the radio transmitter-receiver, the later being carried forward by Marconi who may have purloined some of Tesla's patents. Two great projects did the

The perfect book for the early history of electrical technology

This was exactly what I wanted, the history and description of how the early implementation, financing and design happened. I hate when we get an autobiography of the inventer's life and not a detailed description of how they developed the technology and what mistakes and breakthoughs the inventer got. This book is fantastic.

An Excellent Book!

This is a book about an important topic in our lives: electrical power. Although the author discusses early discoveries in electricity, the main focus is on the period from the late 1800s to the early 1900s - a period when great advances were made in the development of large scale electrical power generation, as well as on the giants who led the way. The science is discussed, at least to some degree, as are the economics of the time. Mini biographies of Edison, Westinghouse and Tesla are also presented. The writing is clear and engaging such that the book is difficult to put down. My only disappointment was that, in my opinion, the science and engineering aspects were not discussed enough; I think that an appendix with more scientific details would have complemented the book very well. But despite this minor shortcoming, the book certainly succeeds in giving the reader a flavor of those exciting times. Highly recommended!

An excellent read !from an electrical engineer

PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE POOR REVIEW FROM johnjones2! I will base my review of this book based on his ridiculous 2 star review. I have been an Electrical Engineer since the mid-1980s. I enjoyed this book tremendously! This is a book that deals with the history of the THREE PRIMARY men who began the war of AC vs. DC electric currents. They are Edison, Westinghouse, and Tesla. Apparently reviewer johnjones2 does not know his history. Charles Proteus Steinmetz never worked for Westinghouse; he worked for GE (that's common knowledge). He didn't join the GE staff until 1893, which was the year of the Colombian Exposition in Chicago. The war of electric currents was well under way before Steinmetz ever joined the GE staff. As you'll learn in this book (and others), the Colombian Exposition was a major battle ground for the war of electric currents. Steinmetz was an outstanding electrical engineer who later worked (for GE) to help optimize the AC motor by solving hysteresis issues. It was TESLA'S (who began working for Westinghouse in 1888 after a short stint with Edison), NOT Steinmetz's, ALL-IMPORTANT PATENTS that were needed to get the AC business going. That's the way business works! This book is about how the AC / DC war began and how AC proved to be the better technology (that's why our homes are now wired for AC). It's not about how AC systems were later perfected.Am I bothered that the author didn't mention Steinmetz - heck no. There are many other engineers who have worked on AC systems to make them better and more efficient, did I expect all of them to be mentioned in this book as well - again, heck no! For reviewer johnjones2 to say that the author had ulterior motives for leaving out Steinmetz is completely hilarious! In 1889, Steinmetz had to flee Germany because of his SOCIALIST activities (ulterior motive?), he then came to the United States. Rudolf Eickemeyer, who had begun building electrical apparatus in his factory in Yonkers, N.Y., gave Steinmetz his start in electrical engineering research. When GE bought out Eickemeyer in late 1892, Steinmetz remained on the staff and began working under the new owners.Now lets move on to reviewer johnjones2's technical issues. Really, there are none. The author does a good job setting the groundwork for how scientists began studying and discovering the basics of electricity and how that knowledge was developed so that man could harness the powerof electricity and use it in the way that we use it today. The so-called technical errors that are pointed out by johnjones2 are based on very trivial issues. I found his complaints about the authors "scientific drawings" completely off base and without merit. The author provides 11 diagrams and basic electrical schematics that help give the average reader an idea of the concepts involved. They are very basic in nature and are diagrams that are still used today to help explain the fundamentals of electricity. These are not "misleading" i