ABOUT THE BOOK

The Inventors

Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and the Race to Create the Modern World

Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell are among the most well-known inventors in history, but many people don’t know they were rivals.

The Inventors delves into their intense competition, which spurred each man to greater achievement. The story begins with 21-year-old Edison’s arrival in Boston in 1868, intent on becoming a full-time inventor, continues through Bell and Edison’s battle to perfect and commercialize their dueling telephones, and concludes in 1880 with Edison’s launch of his electric lighting system and Bell’s invention of a miraculous photophone that transmitted phone calls over beams of light.

The book also examines how the battle for control of the telegraph industry between robber barons Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould fueled the explosion of key inventions during the Gilded Age.

At the heart of the book lies two love stories: Edison’s passion for Mary Stilwell, which was dampened when he discovered she did not understand his work, and that of Bell and Mabel Hubbard, who steered him in the right direction time and again.

The Inventors reveals the struggles of Edison and Bell to bring their brilliant ideas alive and their amazing race to create the electrified, modern world.