PAUL ISRAEL is the Managing Editor of the multivolume documentary edition of the Thomas Edison Papers at Rutgers University and the coauthor of Edison's Electric Light. He lives in Highland Park, New Jersey.
Thomas Alva Edison was, at his death, described as the 'Inventor of the Age', and no wonder, with 1093 US patents and inventions to his name, including the development of the phonograph, the first successful electric lightbulb and the first electrical power distribution company. And yet, many still believe Edison to have been a tinkerer, who achieved his amazing results through simple trial-and-error. However, as Paul Israel shows in this definitive life of Thomas Edison, this perception is very far from the truth. Drawing on over 5 million pages of archival documents, Israel paints a rich portrait of the 'Wizard of Menlo Park', showing him to have been very much a product of his age; a clever, well-read man who studied hard in his younger days, despite little formal schooling, and who succeeded as a result of his studies. Israel also places him firmly in historical context, showing him not as a mythic figure embodying persistence and individuality, but as a man who worked with others to achieve the best results, taking advantage of their expert knowledge and laying the foundations for modern collaborative research. Scholarly and fascinating, this biography is a highly readable and compelling account of one of the most remarkable men of his age. (Kirkus UK)