Enlightenment, Revolution and the Birth of Modern Nations; The Savage War Over Technical Standards
Enlightenment, Revolution and the Birth of Modern Nations
Despite being a founder of both the United states and the French Republic, Thomas Payne is perhaps the least well known and most controversial of all the American founding fathers. Payne, a lower class British tradesman wrote the cornerstone of American democracy, Common Sense and became one of the world's first crusaders for the public good. In his new biography of Thomas Payne, author Craig Nelson creates a rich and vivid portrait of this towering figure bringing Payne to life against the backdrop of the revolutionary era and the vibrant intellectual exhilaration of the Age of Enlightenment. Craig Nelson joins Larry Mantle for a conversation about Thomas Payne.
The Savage War Over Technical Standards
AC/DC, the new book by Tom McNichol tells the little-known story of how Thomas Edison wrongly bet in the fierce war between supporters of alternating current and direct current. The showdown between AC and DC began as a rather straightforward conflict between technical standards, a battle of competing methods to deliver essentially the same product, electricity. But the skirmish soon grew into something bigger and darker. In the AC/DC battle, the worst aspects of human nature somehow got caught up in the wires. AC/DC serves as an object lesson in bad business strategy and poor decision making. Edison's inability to see his mistake was a key factor in his loss of control over the "operating system" for his future inventions–not to mention the company he founded, General Electric. Larry Mantle talks with the author of AC/DC, the story of the all-out war over dueling currents.