Jane Brox has done us all a service by reminding us that the privilege of having artificial light instantly available is neither universal nor possesses a long history. Most of our ancestors lived in darkness after sunset.

From tallow to wax, from olive oil to whale oil to kerosene, from gas light to electric light, this book shows how light has become more available in the United States as well as cheaper. Ms. Brox also shows how the systems developed to allow distributors to charge for coal gas was adapted to allow local electrical metering of current generated hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

Our vulnerability to power outages is discussed along with histories of the major blackouts of the twentieth century. This work is sometimes cloyingly politically correct, such as when the author discusses how electrical power was initially only available to the wealthy, while their servants still ironed their clothes with tools heated on wood stoves. And that, coincidentally, the servants were often black or recent immigrants.

Reviewed by J.David Knepper on LinkedIn