000			04668cam a2200445 i 4500
001			2012039513
003			DLC
005			20190729105309.0
008			130102s2013 nyua b 001 0 eng
010			_a 2012039513
020			_a9781594204265 _qhardback
042			_apcc
043			_an-us---
040			_aDLC _beng _erda _cDLC _dDLC _dMiTN
049			_aEY8Z
050	0	0	_aT173.4 _b.F74 2013
082	0	0	_a303.48/3097309034 _223
084			_aHIS036000 _2bisacsh
100	1		_aFreeberg, Ernest.
245	1	4	_aThe age of Edison : _belectric light and the invention of modern America / _cErnest Freeberg.
264		1	_aNew York : _bThe Penguin Press, _c2013.
300			_a354 pages : _billustrations ; _c25 cm.
336			_atext _2rdacontent
337			_aunmediated _2rdamedia
338			_avolume _2rdacarrier
490	0		_aPenguin history of American life
520			_a"The late nineteenth century was a period of explosive technological creativity, but arguably the most important invention of all was Thomas Edison's incandescent lightbulb. Unveiled in his Menlo Park, New Jersey, laboratory in 1879, the lightbulb overwhelmed the American public with the sense of the birth of a new age. More than any other invention, the electric light marked the arrival of modernity. The lightbulb became a catalyst for the nation's transformation from a rural to an urban-dominated culture. City streetlights defined zones between rich and poor, and the electrical grid sharpened the line between town and country. "Bright lights" meant "big city." Like moths to a flame, millions of Americans migrated to urban centers in these decades, leaving behind the shadow of candle and kerosene lamp in favor of the exciting brilliance of the urban streetscape. The Age of Edison places the story of Edison's invention in the context of a technological revolution that transformed America and Europe in these decades. Edison and his fellow inventors emerged from a culture shaped by broad public education, a lively popular press that took an interest in science and technology, and an American patent system that encouraged innovation and democratized the benefits of invention. And in the end, as Freeberg shows, Edison's greatest invention was not any single technology, but rather his reinvention of the process itself. At Menlo Park he gathered the combination of capital, scientific training, and engineering skill that would evolve into the modern research and development laboratory. His revolutionary electrical grid not only broke the stronghold of gas companies, but also ushered in an era when strong, clear light could become accessible to everyone. In The Age of Edison, 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. It is a quintessentially American story of ingenuity, ambition, and possibility, in which the greater forces of progress and change are made visible by one of our most humble and ubiquitous objects. "-- _cProvided by publisher.
520			_a"The Age of Edison places the story of Edison's invention in the context of a technological revolution that transformed America and Europe in these decades. Edison and his fellow inventors emerged from a culture shaped by broad public education, a lively popular press that took an interest in science and technology, and an American patent system that encouraged innovation and democratized the benefits of invention. And in the end, as Freeberg shows, Edison's greatest invention was not any single technology, but rather his reinvention of the process itself. At Menlo Park he gathered the combination of capital, scientific training, and engineering skill that would evolve into the modern research and development laboratory. His revolutionary electrical grid not only broke the stronghold of gas companies, but also ushered in an era when strong, clear light could become accessible to everyone"-- _cProvided by publisher.
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 317-341) and index.
650		0	_aTechnological innovations _zUnited States _xHistory.
650		0	_aTechnological innovations _xSocial aspects _zUnited States _xHistory.
650		0	_aElectric lighting _zUnited States _xHistory.
600	1	0	_aEdison, Thomas A. _q(Thomas Alva), _d1847-1931.
600	1	0	_aEdison, Thomas A. _q(Thomas Alva), _d1847-1931 _xContemporaries.
650		7	_aHISTORY / United States / General. _2bisacsh
948			_au375345
949			_aT173.4 .F74 2013 _wLC _c1 _hEY8Z _i33039001332591
596			_a1
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