Lightning Beneath the Sea: The Race to Wire the World and the Dawn of the Information Age

A visionary businessman braves terrible weather and cutthroat opposition to achieve Promethean results in this rousing history. Journalist Tabor (Forever on the Mountain) recaps the efforts of paper manufacturer Cyrus Field to lay the first transatlantic telegraph cable in the 1850s and ’60s, an initiative that would bring Europe and the Americas into instant communication, yield big profits, and, he believed, foster world peace. The narrative recounts a series of intrepid cable-laying expeditions and maddening setbacks. Field’s first expedition ended ignominiously when the cable disappeared irretrievably into the depths. His second weathered a monstrous storm, but still completed a functioning transatlantic cable—which then quit working after a few weeks. His third was plagued by probable sabotage—spikes were discovered driven into the cable. The fourth, successful expedition, in 1866, was a race against Western Union’s efforts to link San Francisco with Europe via a cable across the Bering Strait and Russia. Tabor makes Field’s quest into an epic maritime adventure, as well as a riveting study of technological progress, as each failure goads new improvements. It’s also a vivid portrait of Field, a man of missionary zeal and angst—he assumed he would go to hell if any sailors died—whose dogged resilience rallied investors after each disaster. The result is a captivating saga of Victorians cobbling modernity into existence under the most grueling circumstances. (June)