Lightning beneath the sea : the race to wire the world and the dawn of the information age / James M. Tabor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tabor, James M., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Transatlantic cables--History--19th century.

Transatlantic cables.

Telegraph--United States--19th century.

Telegraph.

Telegraph--Great Britain--19th century.

Telegraph--History.

Field, Cyrus W. (Cyrus West), 1819-1892.

Field, Cyrus W.

Great Britain.

United States.

Genre:

Popular works.

Informational works.

Physical Description:

xix, 341 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Race to wire the world and the dawn of the information age

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : W.W. Norton & Company, [2026]

Summary:

"On an unassuming January day in 1854, an entrepreneur named Cyrus Field was struck by an idea: if he could lay a telegraph cable across the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, thereby wiring the world for near-instantaneous communication, he was sure to bring about peace on Earth. His plan would later be described as a 'wild and visionary scheme,' the moonshot of the nineteenth century. At the time, no project like it had ever been attempted; in fact, science still lacked a universal theory of electricity. But twelve years, four spectacular--and spectacularly public--failures, and near-incalculable amounts of money, bravery, and tenacity later, the first transatlantic cable was laid, ushering in the global information age and transforming life on Earth forever. In Lightning Beneath the Sea, acclaimed author James M. Tabor weaves an unforgettable tale of radical vision, unwavering determination, and improbable triumph against the odds and wild rages of the Atlantic. The dream team Field assembled to realize the cable project included telegraph legend Samuel F. B. Morse; a young William Thompson, Lord Kelvin, called the da Vinci of his day; Michael Faraday, the father of electrical engineering; and legendary philanthropist and railway pioneer Peter Cooper, founder of the Cooper Union. Together, they battled miscalculations, freak accidents, probable corporate sabotage, and the hubris of the project's original chief electrician-a man who insisted on being called Wildman Whitehouse-while racing two rival efforts to establish telegraphic communications between continents. When it was finally done, their cable would span 2,000 miles and lie as many as 2.5 miles deep under the ocean. Today, hundreds of its descendants still carry 99 percent of the world's information through a 'world undersea web.' Deeply researched and written with verve, Lightning Beneath the Sea is the definitive account of an epoch-making achievement"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

A note on money

Principal characters

Prologue

Part One: A wild and visionary scheme. Rich man, poor man

Cornerstones

Cable cabinet

Gutta what?

Disaster the first

Miraculous escape

Part Two: The most honored man in the world. A Brett, A Bright, and a Wildman

Desperately seeking ships

Most gigantic experiment

Wildman and the professor

Mr. Field goes to Washington

Field's fleet

The wire squadron

Nothing but reverses

Pop goes the cable

Brakes, not breaks

Breaking strain

Hundred-year storm

Laid at last

A name on millions of tongues

Black day for Whitehouse

What should he say?

Part Three: One world. Up like a rocket, down like a stick

Field's wars

The tides turn

For want of a captain

Captain courageous

Telcon rules

Any enemy well equipped

Hero and heroine

Fatal decree

Return of the mainspring

James Anderson to the rescue

Canning's grand plan

Old world, new world

One world

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Illustration credits

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781324036029

1324036028

OCLC:

1535852196

Publisher Number:

90104679675

CIPO000379595