Lightning Beneath the Sea

In Lightning Beneath the Sea, James M. Tabor tells how Cyrus Field's determination to overcome every adversity inspired investors, scientists, and engineers in the United State and Britain alike. He weaves together the wide-ranging stories of Field and his many collaborators into an engaging account of how--despite setbacks that would have defeated a lesser man--a successful cable was finally completed in 1866. Europe and North America have been connected ever since, and now a network of over a million kilometers of undersea fiber optic cables carries today's internet around the world--a direct descendant of Field's great vision.--Bill Burns, publisher and webmaster of Atlantic-Cable.com Long before aviators spanned the Atlantic through clouds, electricians linked the old and new worlds on the ocean floor when, in the mid-nineteenth century, the first transatlantic telegraph cable was laid. In Lightning Beneath the Sea, James M. Tabor takes us into the very depths of this remarkable endeavor. It is a world of sparks, storms, pitch, hubris, and, above all, determination. Tabor reconstructs a great moment of the modern age. It is a time when information can flash, like lightning, between continents, and when a new fabric of human connection begins to form.--David Rooney, author of The Big Hop