Lightning Man The Accursed Life Of Samuel F.b. Morse

by Silverman, Kenneth

• ISBN13: 9780306813948
• ISBN10: 0306813947
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-09-22
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Summary

This brilliantly conceived biography is the very American tale of a quiet man, raised by religious zealots, who became a gifted and prolific painter (more than three hundred portraits and historical canvases), became the first Professor of Fine Arts at an American college, and founded the National Academy of Design. A classic overachiever, this was simply not enough for Samuel F. B. Morse; he subsequently ran for Congress and mayor of New York. Lastly, in his most famous life's work, he invented a machine that was to transform commerce, communication, transportation, military affairs, diplomacy, and the course of the modern world. What invention could be so revolutionary? The telegraph, of course-and the eponymous Morse code. Here is the story of an incredible invention, and an engrossing life, by a Bancroft- and Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

Author Biography

Born and raised in Manhattan, Kenneth Silverman is Professor Emeritus of English at New York University. His other books include Timothy Dwight, A Cultural History of the American Revolution, Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance, and Houdini!!! The Life of Ehrich Weiss. He is winner of the Bancroft Prize in American History and the Pulitzer Prize for Biography for The Life and Times of Cotton Mather.

Table of Contents

Finley
Geography	3	(18)
No One Uninspired by the Muses May Enter	21	(19)
A Terrible Harum-Scarum Fellow	40	(27)
An Affection of the Heart	67	(30)
Morse
Il Diavolo	97	(27)
Anomalous, Nondescript, Hermaphrodite	124	(23)
High Attribute of Ubiquity	147	(27)
Traveling on a Snail's Back	174	(18)
Beware of Tricks	192	(28)
Hurrah Boys Whip Up the Mules	220	(29)
Samuel F. B. Morse
Mere Men of Trade	249	(25)
Tantalus Still	274	(23)
The Great Telegraph Case	297	(28)
A True Social Fraternity	325	(21)
Can't! Sir, Can't!	346	(24)
Forward	370	(21)
Commandador
Is This Treason? Is This Conspiracy?	391	(24)
Visions of Receding Glory	415	(32)
Coda: 1872--2000	441	(6)
Documentation	447	(36)
Acknowledgments	483	(2)
Index	485	(16)
Illustration Credits	501