Winchell, Mike. The Electric War: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Light the World. Holt, 2019. $19.99. 260p. ISBN: 9781250120168. Ages 12-15. P7Q9
The AC-DC wars between two famous inventors, Thomas Alva Edison and Nikola Tesla, highlighted the Gilded Age, the late 19th century of big business and booming entrepreneurship. The “electric” book begins with a man’s murder of his wife in Buffalo (NY), an unlikely event that leads to an epic episode toward the end of the book in which the man was the first person to be legally executed through electrocution. Told in graphic detail about the man’s suffering, the experience dramatizes Edison’s self-centered decision to preserve his direct-current approach by illustrating the dangers of alternating current in homes and businesses. The book shows the backstabbing of the major figures of invention in electronics during the time, their successes and sometimes later failures before the building of the huge power plant, at one time providing electricity for one-fourth of the people in the U.S., that ended the War of the Currents.
Verdict: Winchell’s exciting narrative will entice even readers not interested in the subject or the people involved through his writing and inclusion of quirky events such as the seven-year-old Edison burning down his family’s barn because he wanted to learn how straw burned. Edison’s stubbornness comes through his continued fight to win despite his understanding about the serious flaws of direct current for large commercial purposes as does Tesla’s willingness to give up his patents to ensure the success of alternating current. Highly recommended for both research and leisure reading.
May 2019 review by Nel Ward.
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