Summary
"Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author Richard Rhodes reveals the fascinating history behind energy transitions over time--wood to coal to oil to electricity and beyond. People have lived and died, businesses have prospered and failed, and nations have risen to world power and decli... Full description
- Part 1. Power. No wood, no kingdom ; Raising water by fire ; A giant with one idea ; To make for all the world ; Catch me who can ; Unconquered steam!
- Part 2. Light. Rushlight to gaslight ; Pursuing Leviathan ; Burning fluids ; Wild animals ; Great forces of nature ; A cadence of water ; An enormous yellow cheese ; Pillars of black cloud
- Part 3. New fires. A gift of God ; One-armed men doing welding ; Full power in fifty-seven ; Affection from the smog ; The dark age to come ; All aboard.