Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 973
EAN num: 9780262640305
ISBN number: 0262640309
Label: The MIT Press
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 495
Printing Date: July 08, 1992
Publishing house: The MIT Press
Sale Popularity Level: 308476
Studio: The MIT Press
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How did electricity enter everyday life in America? Using Muncie, Indiana, as a touchstone, David Nye explores how electricity seeped into and redefined American culture. With an eye for telling details and a broad understanding of cultural and social history, he creates a thought-provoking panorama of a technology fundamental to modern life.
David E. Nye teaches American history at the University of Copenhagen. He has published books on Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, as well as Image Worlds, a study of photography and corporate identities at General Electric.
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Rated by buyers 
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This book is about how electricity transformed America. Nye explores how electricity changed the home (it was now cleaner and safer than gas), the factory, and transportation (it made the subway and inter-urban trolley-car systems possible). Americans embraced this new source of energy quickly and convincingly. The mantra, however, that electric appliances would free the housewife was not true: men did not take to the appliances as readily and (surprise!) women suddenly were doing chores (vacuuming) that men used to do (beat the rugs). There is a lot of detail in the book, but not much that is new or not obvious. For that reason it was somewhat dull.
Rated by buyers 
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Did you know, in the early days of electricity, the power went off at 11:00 pm each night? Or that electricity was billed at a flat rate of $1 per day? Or that most homes had only one or two outlets and a light bulb hanging from a string?
This book is a compendium of both fascinating facts and substantial histories of the development of residential electrical usage in our country.
I love old houses and historical information, and perhaps because of that, I found this book to be a fascinating read. Some parts of it were a wee bit dry, where he delved into some of the more technical aspects of this modern utility, but the majority of the book was a treasure.
After reading this book, and gaining an better understanding of the history of electricity, I'd say, without hesitation, that introducing the modern convenience of electrical current into our homes may be the most significant discovery of the last 500 years.
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