Just the other day, I heard one of the earliest popular recorded sambas, Donga’s “Pelo Telefone,” from 1916 and released on an Edison talking record, probably a wax cylinder. A few years later the ...

Thomas Edison's 1879 breakthrough with a long-lasting carbon filament bulb revolutionized electric lighting, moving it from experimental to practical. This innovation enabled homes, businesses, and ...

A sweeping history of the electric light revolution and the birth of modern America. The late nineteenth century was a period of explosive technological creativity, but more than any other invention, ...