In the final decades of the nineteenth century, threebrilliant and visionary titans of America’s Gilded Age—ThomasEdison, Nikola Tesla, and George Westinghouse—battled bitterly aseach vied to create a vast and powerful electrical empire. InEmpires of Light, historian Jill Jonnes portrays this extraordinarytrio and their riveting and ruthless world of cutting-edge science,invention, intrigue, money, death, and hard-eyed Wall Streetmillionaires. At the heart of the story are Thomas Alva Edison, thenation’s most famous and folksy inventor, creator of theincandescent light bulb and mastermind of the world’s first directcurrent electrical light networks; the Serbian wizard of inventionNikola Tesla, elegant, highly eccentric, a dreamer whorevolutionized the generation and delivery of electricity; and thecharismatic George Westinghouse, Pittsburgh inventor and toughcorporate entrepreneur, an industrial idealist who in the era ofgaslight imagined a world powered by cheap and plentifulelectricity and
An absolutely wonderful book. --Russell Baker "Rick Bragg writes like a man on fire. And All Over but theShoutin' is a work of art. While reading this book, I fell in lovewith Rick Bragg's mother, Margaret Bragg, a hundred times. I feltlike I was reading one of the prophets in the Old Testament whenreading parts of this book. I thought of Melville, I thought ofFaulkner. Because I love the English language, I knew I was readingone of the best books I've ever read. By explaining his life to theworld, Rick Bragg explained part of my life to me. You feel thingsin every line this man writes. His sentences bleed on you. I weptwhen the book ended. I never met Rick Bragg in my life, but Icalled him up and told him he'd written a masterpiece, and I sentflowers to his mother." --Pat Conroy "Searingly honest, beautifully written, All Over but the Shoutin'is perhaps the most courageous thing Pulitzer Prize-winningjournalist Rick Bragg has ever written. Making his reputation on
In Strength in What Remains , Tracy Kidder gives us thestory of one man’s inspiring American journey and of the ordinarypeople who helped him, providing brilliant testament to the powerof second chances. Deo arrives in the United States from Burundi insearch of a new life. Having survived a civil war and genocide, helands at JFK airport with two hundred dollars, no English, and nocontacts. He ekes out a precarious existence delivering groceries,living in Central Park, and learning English by readingdictionaries in bookstores. Then Deo begins to meet the strangerswho will change his life, pointing him eventually in the directionof Columbia University, medical school, and a life devoted tohealing. Kidder breaks new ground in telling this unforgettablestory as he travels with Deo back over a turbulent life and showsus what it means to be fully human.