Helpful Score: 1
This was a really enjoyable and engrossing fictionalized account of the "war of the currents" where Thomas Edison and his rival, George Westinghouse, fight over which current, AC or DC, is the most efficient and safe to use to light America. But before that, Westinghouse is being sued by Edison over an infringement on Edison's patent on the light bulb. Westinghouse hires a young attorney, Paul Cravath, to defend him who really has a tough task ahead of him. Edison is a very smart and dangerous opponent who also is backed by J.P. Morgan, the wealthy financier. In the background of the story, Nikola Tesla is a genius who is busy making his own inventions including being a key in developing alternating current (AC) which of course eventually became the standard. There is also a love story amid all this with Paul falling for Agnes Huntington, a beautiful opera singer who is also a champion of Tesla.
This was a great mix of fact and fiction leading to what is now the multinational company, General Electric. Along the way Moore shows us how this came to pass including the initial dangers of electrification including the electrocution of workmen and the brutal description of the first execution by electric chair. As Moore describes in his endnote, all of the major characters in the novel were real although the events may be embellished and presented in a different chronological timeframe. He did a really good job in describing these characters including the egotism of Edison and Tesla's way of wording the English language. For someone like me who was pretty much "in the dark" about the fight over AC/DC and the players involved, this was a great introduction. Now I'm very interested in reading more about Edison, Westinghouse, and especially Tesla.
This was a great mix of fact and fiction leading to what is now the multinational company, General Electric. Along the way Moore shows us how this came to pass including the initial dangers of electrification including the electrocution of workmen and the brutal description of the first execution by electric chair. As Moore describes in his endnote, all of the major characters in the novel were real although the events may be embellished and presented in a different chronological timeframe. He did a really good job in describing these characters including the egotism of Edison and Tesla's way of wording the English language. For someone like me who was pretty much "in the dark" about the fight over AC/DC and the players involved, this was a great introduction. Now I'm very interested in reading more about Edison, Westinghouse, and especially Tesla.
TW: This book contains explicit descriptions of death by electrocution.
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After a memorable opening scene followed by a somewhat sluggish set-up period, Graham Moore's âThe Last Days of Night' builds to an intriguing inner-workings story of a clash between two turn-of-the-century American titans.
This fictionalized retelling of the feud between George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison, which also entangled the enigmatic Nikola Tesla ends up being a moving and exciting story, even though its bedrock has to do with lawsuits and patents for the electrical systems and devices that would light up 20th century America. From this rather unpromising raw material, Moore has managed to extract a tale of industrial espionage, arson, dirty dealings, collusion, and monumental egos, most of which is played out from the viewpoint of yet another historical personage, attorney Paul Cravath, who represented Westinghouse and who also managed to develop the template on which most large law practices are now built (while simultaneously courting a notorious opera singer).
If that sounds like a lot to cram into one novel, it is. But Moore has selectively moved a few events around to smooth things out, makes some reasonable assumptions about his characters' inner lives, and sculpts a fascinating story. (For the historical purist, an author's end-note specifies the liberties taken with the timeline and who-probably-knew-what-when details.)
Readers seeking a comprehensive biographies of Westinghouse, Edison, or Tesla will have to look elsewhere (though Tesla gets the most ink when it comes to the details of his creative life), and Edison, particularly, gets some of the gloss knocked off his legend. Moore has also, without belaboring the fact, led many chapters with quotes from men whose lives wrought equally massive changes in our lives a hundred years later â Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. If there are specific parallels to be drawn, it's up to the reader to draw them.
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After a memorable opening scene followed by a somewhat sluggish set-up period, Graham Moore's âThe Last Days of Night' builds to an intriguing inner-workings story of a clash between two turn-of-the-century American titans.
This fictionalized retelling of the feud between George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison, which also entangled the enigmatic Nikola Tesla ends up being a moving and exciting story, even though its bedrock has to do with lawsuits and patents for the electrical systems and devices that would light up 20th century America. From this rather unpromising raw material, Moore has managed to extract a tale of industrial espionage, arson, dirty dealings, collusion, and monumental egos, most of which is played out from the viewpoint of yet another historical personage, attorney Paul Cravath, who represented Westinghouse and who also managed to develop the template on which most large law practices are now built (while simultaneously courting a notorious opera singer).
If that sounds like a lot to cram into one novel, it is. But Moore has selectively moved a few events around to smooth things out, makes some reasonable assumptions about his characters' inner lives, and sculpts a fascinating story. (For the historical purist, an author's end-note specifies the liberties taken with the timeline and who-probably-knew-what-when details.)
Readers seeking a comprehensive biographies of Westinghouse, Edison, or Tesla will have to look elsewhere (though Tesla gets the most ink when it comes to the details of his creative life), and Edison, particularly, gets some of the gloss knocked off his legend. Moore has also, without belaboring the fact, led many chapters with quotes from men whose lives wrought equally massive changes in our lives a hundred years later â Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. If there are specific parallels to be drawn, it's up to the reader to draw them.
It is an amazing feat for an author to turn a 'dry as bone' patent fight into high drama. However, that is just what Graham Moore did in this novel. My only complaint is that is fiction; at every plot twist, I found my wondering if it really happened. Some of the factual actions of the characters sounded like fiction. At the end of the book, the author explained where he'd made changes. Perhaps the best compliment I can share about this book is that it is so engrossing that I spent considerable time reading reference books and searching the Internet for verification of incidents and characters.
This is the billion dollar fight between business/investor titans George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison over who invented the light bulb. Part of this conflict was the issue of alternate current (AC) vs. direct current (DC) -- that these giants were working on at the same time. I found the real star of the show to be Nicoli Tesla, a Serbian genius. He worked for each of the major inventors at differing times, but he was a troubled man with great creative powers. Like Paul Cravath, the narrator in the story, I wondered why he didn't get scurvy from his constant diet of saltine crackers and water.
Of all the major characters, I was sure that Paul Cravath was fiction. However, he really was a 26-year-old man who grew during this story to be able to match wits with these major business leaders -- and win. 4.5 stars
This is the billion dollar fight between business/investor titans George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison over who invented the light bulb. Part of this conflict was the issue of alternate current (AC) vs. direct current (DC) -- that these giants were working on at the same time. I found the real star of the show to be Nicoli Tesla, a Serbian genius. He worked for each of the major inventors at differing times, but he was a troubled man with great creative powers. Like Paul Cravath, the narrator in the story, I wondered why he didn't get scurvy from his constant diet of saltine crackers and water.
Of all the major characters, I was sure that Paul Cravath was fiction. However, he really was a 26-year-old man who grew during this story to be able to match wits with these major business leaders -- and win. 4.5 stars
