DARK LIGHT: Electricity and Anxiety from the Telegraph to the X-Ray

This, well, illuminating social history of the introduction of electric power in 19th-century America illustrates a thesis that has resonance today: that the introduction of any potentially transforming technology creates a tension between desirable changes in day-to-day life and the anxiety that follows any step into the unknown. In following that tension, Simon shows how the belief that electricity was a fundamental life force fostered various forms, many bizarre, of "electrotherapy" in the service of sexual fulfillment, mental health and contact with the world of the dead—whom mesmerists of the day even believed could be reanimated with electricity. Simon is an English professor at Skidmore College and biographer of such literary figures as William James, and her literary background is both a strength and a weakness. She shows little interest in how electricity works, but she is quite deft at exploring through novels and short stories how 19th-century society viewed the promises and perceived dangers of a world filled with electrical devices. Unfortunately, Simon spends too much time on the mesmerists and not enough on the development of useful electrical inventions and their integration into common use. On the other hand, Morse's development of the telegraph and Edison's many inventions are stories that benefit from Simon's good eye for the intrigue, politicking and hucksterism that surrounded these innovations. Agent, Elaine Markson. (July)