Electrifying America

Using Muncie, Indiana, as a touchstone, David Nye examines how electricity seeped into and transformed American culture.

The book emphasizes the experiences of ordinary men and women and how electricity was selectively adopted to create streetcar suburbs, amusement parks, the 'Great White Way,' assembly lines, electrified homes, and industrialized farms.

Nye shows how electricity touched every part of American life, influenced political ideologies, created the image of the modern city, and pervaded colloquial speech.

He also explores the social meaning of electrification through utopian ideas, world's fairs, and its representation in art, literature, and photography.