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The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America
The dramatic story of the "power revolution" that turned America from an agrarian society into a technological superpower, and the dynamic, fiercely competitive inventors and entrepreneurs who made it happen―a riveting historical saga to rival McCullough's The Great Bridge or Larson's Thunderstruck .
Maury Klein, author of Rainbow's The Crash of 1929 , is one of America's most acclaimed historians of business and industry. In The Power Makers , he offers an epic narrative of his greatest subject yet―the "power revolution" that transformed American life in the course of the nineteenth century.
The steam engine, the incandescent bulb, the electric motor―inventions such as these replaced backbreaking toil with machine labor and changed every aspect of daily life in the span of a few generations. The power revolution is not a tale of machines, however, but of inventors such as James Watt, Elihu Thomson, and Nikola Tesla; entrepreneurs such as George Westinghouse; savvy businessmen such as J.P. Morgan, Samuel Insull, and Charles Coffin of General Electric. Striding among them like a colossus is the figure of Thomas Edison, who was creative genius and business visionary at once. With consummate skill, Klein recreates their discoveries, their stunning triumphs and frequent failures, and their unceasing, tumultuous, and ferocious battles in the marketplace.
In Klein's hands, their personalities and discoveries leap off the page. The Power Makers is a dazzling saga of inspired invention, dogged persistence, and business competition at its most naked and cutthroat―a tale of America in its most astonishing decades.
Maury Klein, author of Rainbow's The Crash of 1929 , is one of America's most acclaimed historians of business and industry. In The Power Makers , he offers an epic narrative of his greatest subject yet―the "power revolution" that transformed American life in the course of the nineteenth century.
The steam engine, the incandescent bulb, the electric motor―inventions such as these replaced backbreaking toil with machine labor and changed every aspect of daily life in the span of a few generations. The power revolution is not a tale of machines, however, but of inventors such as James Watt, Elihu Thomson, and Nikola Tesla; entrepreneurs such as George Westinghouse; savvy businessmen such as J.P. Morgan, Samuel Insull, and Charles Coffin of General Electric. Striding among them like a colossus is the figure of Thomas Edison, who was creative genius and business visionary at once. With consummate skill, Klein recreates their discoveries, their stunning triumphs and frequent failures, and their unceasing, tumultuous, and ferocious battles in the marketplace.
In Klein's hands, their personalities and discoveries leap off the page. The Power Makers is a dazzling saga of inspired invention, dogged persistence, and business competition at its most naked and cutthroat―a tale of America in its most astonishing decades.
560 pages, Hardcover
First published May 27, 2008
29 people are currently reading
503 people want to read
About the author
Maury Klein
30 books32 followersMaury Klein is renowned as one of the finest historians of American business and economy. He is the author of many books, including The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America; and Rainbow's End: The Crash of 1929. He is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Rhode Island. He lives in Saunderstown, Rhode Island.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 16, 2020
This was an unexpected but highly informative detour on my trip through the late 19th century, brought on by a recently-read Edison biography. This period was full of innovation in general, and in no other area was this more prevalent than in power creation and distribution. Many of the familiar names are present - Edison, Westinghouse, Tesla, et al - but many lesser-known but equally important inventors and entrepreneurs are chronicled, from the early days of steam engines to the evolution of electricity as a major power source. Sam Insull (distribution systems) and Arthur Wright (metered usage and tiered pricing) are examples of virtually unknown innovators who helped develop our current electrical system in the U.S. At times, it was tough to stay focused during the more technical parts of the book. Electricity, mechanical engineering, and such aren't my things, but in fairness, this wouldn't typically be a distraction for those who are so inclined. My preference was for the overall progression and evolution related to the social and financial impacts.
March 5, 2020
Hands-down the best, most engaging, history of the development of steam power and electricity generation one can imagine. I've read biographies of Watt, Edison, and Tesla, along with many other energy books, but this one pulls all the threads together to show how the technologies for producing, distributing, and making use of electricity aligned and made possible our modern electrical grid.
July 4, 2024
Author does a good job to avoid getting into the weeds technically but curiosity about power and steam fundamentals helps understand how the innovators (or their successors) navigated commercial feasibility that is a given today. Also many parallels to today’s digital (AI) and green energy revolutions that are reshaping us both professionally and personally.
August 4, 2022
A fascinating history of steam and electric power in the United States and the key people involved in developing the technology and growing the businesses. Midway through the book, I found myself jealous of the people who got to experience the wonders of the Columbine Exposition in person.
November 8, 2022
Packed with a lot detail but very accessible for non-science experts. You learn a lot.
November 2, 2009
If you’re interested in such stuff, I highly recommend this thick book presenting the history of the inventions and innovations that gave us steam power and commercial electricity which, ultimately, enables Access Hollywood to invade my living room and cause my eyes to gloss over. Basically broken into two parts – the development of steam engines and the mostly subsequent history of innovation and distribution of electrical power – Klein covers all these guys who make my day-to-day societal contributions seem lame and undisciplined. A few of the gents are household names, most now obscure, all a bit off-kilter… not inventor-of-the-Flowbee off-kilter, but idiosyncratic enough (and the Flowbee’s, Supercuts-be-damned magic would be rendered useless without the AC 177 volts eventually developed by these guys).
Despite the author’s superb skill at rendering the complex into dumbed-down morsels for us laypersons, my mechanical ineptitude caused my mind to frequently wander into the realm of burritos and dismay at how startlingly awful that new Courtney Cox show is. Fortunately there’s Ned. He’s the fictional, aw-shucks, World-Fair-visiting Iowa dude that Stein introduces to segue into the two main subjects as well as conclude the book (visiting the 1939 New York event where steam and electrical systems are no longer the exhibit but merely the invisible power source for highly vaunted vacuum cleaners, toasters and other such future-detritus that will be distributed freely throughout Robert Moses freeway networks). I would normally criticize such a fictional inclusion in a well-researched book as something like using carton characters to sell smokes or preach about the many perils faced by Guatemalan children, but it really works here. The Fairs (1876 Philly, 1893 Chicago, and the aforementioned New York) are selected as the appropriate gauge with which to trace the trajectory of power source development within one lengthy lifetime. The author’s atmospheric description of what one would have experienced is as well crafted as the rest of the book and adds a certain element of human normality to a story about so many genius types.
Despite the author’s superb skill at rendering the complex into dumbed-down morsels for us laypersons, my mechanical ineptitude caused my mind to frequently wander into the realm of burritos and dismay at how startlingly awful that new Courtney Cox show is. Fortunately there’s Ned. He’s the fictional, aw-shucks, World-Fair-visiting Iowa dude that Stein introduces to segue into the two main subjects as well as conclude the book (visiting the 1939 New York event where steam and electrical systems are no longer the exhibit but merely the invisible power source for highly vaunted vacuum cleaners, toasters and other such future-detritus that will be distributed freely throughout Robert Moses freeway networks). I would normally criticize such a fictional inclusion in a well-researched book as something like using carton characters to sell smokes or preach about the many perils faced by Guatemalan children, but it really works here. The Fairs (1876 Philly, 1893 Chicago, and the aforementioned New York) are selected as the appropriate gauge with which to trace the trajectory of power source development within one lengthy lifetime. The author’s atmospheric description of what one would have experienced is as well crafted as the rest of the book and adds a certain element of human normality to a story about so many genius types.
June 9, 2013
Ned, with nine years old gets to visit the first of three World Fairs that he is lucky enough to experience in his lifetime.
Philadelphia 1876 sets the scene for this fascinating book, that takes the reader on an exciting historical odyssey of mankind's constant technical innovations.
Starting with the first tender steps with steam engines, going through an ever increasing understanding of science with all the big names and ending with the fascinating story of how electric "came of age" and its big players and inventors got out outmaneuvered from bankers.
For all tech fans, a book very much worth reading!
Philadelphia 1876 sets the scene for this fascinating book, that takes the reader on an exciting historical odyssey of mankind's constant technical innovations.
Starting with the first tender steps with steam engines, going through an ever increasing understanding of science with all the big names and ending with the fascinating story of how electric "came of age" and its big players and inventors got out outmaneuvered from bankers.
For all tech fans, a book very much worth reading!
March 19, 2013
The book is exactly what you would expect from the title and a good overview of the evolution of steam and electrical power systems in the United States. I borrowed this from the library, but am thinking about buying a copy to have it on hand for easy reference (job-related). Still a good read (some parts are skimable depending on your knowledge of this history) if you are interested in history of science or just curious about everyday technologies we take for granted.
August 8, 2010
First third is largely about the development of steam power as a prime mover and is really cool. The entire remainder is about development of electricity, the Edison/Westinghouse conflict, and a whoooooooooole lot of detail about the financial interactions of the two companies. That's interesting, but not *as* interesting, and wasn't quite what I was wanting.
November 3, 2011
The ball got rolling slowly here in the steam power part of the book, which is only maybe the first 15% or so, but picked up. Very good brief histories of the scientific study of heat and electromagnetism in the 19th century.
The business-focused majority of the book is very detailed, very well written but maybe too detailed to be everyone's cup of tea.
The business-focused majority of the book is very detailed, very well written but maybe too detailed to be everyone's cup of tea.
Want to read
July 13, 2008Received as an ARC
January 2, 2009
Well-researched, erudite, and fascinatingly detailed. Read and learn things you've never thought about ...
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews