The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America

Summary (from the publisher): The late nineteenth century was a period of explosive technological creativity, but more than any other invention, Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulb marked the arrival of modernity, transforming its inventor into a mythic figure and avatar of an era. In The Age of Edison, award-winning author and historian Ernest Freeberg weaves a narrative that reaches from Coney Island and Broadway to the tiniest towns of rural America, tracing the progress of electric light through the reactions of everyone who saw it and capturing the wonder Edison’s invention inspired. It is a quintessentially American story of ingenuity, ambition, and possibility in which the greater forces of progress and change are made by one of our most humble and ubiquitous objects.

Review: This work of non-fiction is a compelling social history that covers the rise of electricity in America and the many ways it transformed the country. In addition to the history of electric light's invention, this book also covers the spread of usage of electric light through the country, and the many changes that occurred as a result including the hours we keep, medical care and surgery, photography, and oceanic exploration. 

The title of this book is a bit of a misnomer. While Edison is certainly discussed and played a great role in the rise of electric light, the book does not focus on him. During his time, Edison was a bit of a celebrity and his name represented electricity even when dozens of others were working on the technology so in some ways it does feel fitting that his name graces the cover. Yet this book covers much more than just Edison or his inventions and truly spans the country to discuss the many uses and changes that came about due to the availability of electric light. 


This book covered an important invention that transformed American life. I appreciated the author's choice to cover not only the invention of electricity but its ramifications in the decades afterwards. Only as electric light slowly spread across the country and its uses continued to grow could the reader begin to grasp the true magnitude of the shift of life before and after electrical life became available to the public. 

From a novelty invention to a practical solution to illuminate individuals' homes and dark streets, light truly transformed America in the late nineteenth century. To first illuminating Christmas trees in 1884 to making it possible for surgeons to see inside their patients as they operated, there is little about life today that this invention hasn't touched. Although early its progress was slowed by rural settings and unsafe regulations that saw hundreds of wires sticking out of one pole and opened many up to accidental electrocution, the practice became increasingly widespread and "70 percent of homes [were] wired by 1930" (289). "And by all its multitude uses it has lengthened the hours of our active lives, decreased our fears, replaced the dark with good cheer, increased our safety, decreased our toil, and enabled us to read the type in the telephone book" (309). 

Stars: 4