Customer Reviews

Lightning Man: The Accursed Life of Samuel F. B. Morse

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

SFB Morse is hardly a forgotten figure in history, but neither does he have the stature of an Edison in terms of the industrial development. As Lightning Man ably describes, the telegraph itself was more an invention of an amalgamation of a variety of predecessor developments in science and technology. Morse deserves ample credit for putting the pieces together and, more importantly, having the drive and acumen to evolve the invention into a successful business model, which was the key for its transformative effect on world technology. Yet his life, before the appearance of this excellent biography, seems shrouded in the myth of the lone inventor.

What's truly fascinating about his story and this book is the tale of the transition from the idea of the lone individual genius to the research lab, the difference between a great idea and a useful product, the move from progress being measured by the fevered work of a single man to the joint efforts of the company and the corporation. The story is one of a transformation of a culture, but which stays firmly focussed on its subject, Mr. Morse, in telling the tale.

Morse's "early" years as a painter are covered extremely well, and while the transition between his career as a painter to one as an inventor may seem bizarre and abrupt to the modern conception, Silverman illuminates this strange career change in the light of the times. Morse himself was a bridge between early American puritanism and a more modern philosophy that was to come. His philosophy of human nature and of himself had all the prejudice, bravado, arrogance, hypocrisy, idealism, greed, and Calvinist self-loathing that made the first half of the 19th century such a dynamic period. That Morse had to travel abroad to study fine art painting, a field considered by many Americans of the time to be vile and barely a craft, and sought the approval of the Academy of the day in Europe also neatly encapsulates the love-hate relationship of the period with European culture and learning. (Morse's own tortured schizophrenia on European political institutions is a subtheme: he is quick to criticize the European political systems of the day in his younger years, and all too eager to accept the emoluments and honors of royalty in his later ones.) The treatment of Morse's early years and his relationship with his then-even-more famous geographer father is done very deftly, without resorting to facile Freudian psychobabble, as we see Morse attempting to simultaneously win parental approval, find his own way in the world, make a name for himself, and try to see his own importance.

There's an American tragedy within Morse's life story as well, in the way he bitterly fought -- perhaps too hard in some ways -- to get the sole credit for inventing the telegraph that he is popularly (and inaccurately) given in the one-line biographical entries of modern histories. This fight was done partly for ego and celebrity, and partly to protect his patents and late fortune. It's a sad and cautionary tale how Morse was never able to settle into any kind of self-satisfaction as he became obsessed with his own legacy.

Morse was an American original, and there's a fascinating pull to the story of a man never happy with himself despite having reached conventional success in two quite different professions.

I picked up this book on a whim, and found myself agog at Morse's veritable precognition about the telecommunication industry. I was quite unable to put the book down. This man may be long dead, but his ideas about leasing the right to use his telegraph, rather than opting to sell telegraph devices one-by-one, was a brilliant marketing decision on a par with today's great master's of business. The book is well-written and full of surprises, including what business decisions NOT to make. This is a great read for anyone who a)is in marketing; b) is in telecommunication; or c)mistrusts the Patent Office!

As he did with Houdini, Poe and Cotton Mather, Silverman peels away the tired skin of his subjects and reveals a person hitherto unknown to history. Never one to catalog facts, Silverman redefines not only the person but the era in which he lived. Morse's Calvinism, his passionate pro-slavery views, and his profound frustrations can be comprehended only in the context of his age, which Silverman portrays through dazzling research and exquisite prose. Harrowing Nineteenth Century sea voyages and the Puritan's love/hate relationship with Rome provide two of the many fascinating vignettes that invigorate this portrait.
Once again, Kenneth Silverman has proven himself the Dean of American biographers.

Basically I agree with the reviews of Deborah Taylor, Charles De Fanti, Jr. and Matthew Wall. I had no idea that Morse was an accomplished painter and introduced daguerreotype photography to the USA and taught Matthew Brady. Thanks to Hollywood, I had no idea that one of the best features of the Morse telegraph system was automatic recording of the dot and dash signals, so no operator had to be present when they arrived. Or that he was involved with the trans-Atlantic cables. Or that he finally threw himself on the mercy of European governments in which the Morse telegraph system was being used and asked for an indemnity, one-time, saying he would be satisfied with whatever it was ($2 million in today's money).

We were never exposed to Morse's pro-slavery bible-based views, or his campaign support for General George McClellan in 1864 against Lincoln. The idea that English abolitionists were planted or encouraged to go to the USA to weaken us was there.

Silverman has provided a good index and astounding documentation of sources. Those of you who have looked at my other reviews and seen lists of errors will be impressed that I did not find a single one in this wonderfully readable book. My only wish is that there were a few more details of the telegraph devices. And why no table of the Morse code? No matter: this is one of the best books I have ever read on any topic.

"Lightning Man" is the 400+ page biography of Samuel F.B. Morse his surprising life. I've got an interest in telecommunication, computing and history thus ended up reading this book which contains elements of all. Yet, quickly I found myself surprised by what I was reading as I didn't know the eventful, controversial, and diverse life that Morse had.

The book contains 18 chapters (plus a coda) and consist of a near 450 fairly dense pages. It took a while to get through it for me yet not a moment I doubt whether I should continue. The book starts with the birth of Morse and quickly goes through its childhood and spends a fair amount of time to Morse his early life as a painter (!). From there it describes Morse's many sidetracks in politics and then the sudden invention of the telegraph (which I felt the author keeps a bit vague... on purpose). Morse spend many years perfecting and fighting to promote the telegraph and every step where he had a success, it was immediately followed by a challenge. The biggest challenge he had seemed to be by people challenging whether he actually was the invention of the telegraph and suing him for his patent. The book is full of court cases and patent trouble. Later in the book, it is clear that the invention of the telegraph was a major invention and permanently changed the life of many people. Though, he was wildly recognized as the inventor and did well financially also, he was still constantly fighting off challenges and seemed to suspect everyone he ever worked with. At times, it makes you wonder if Morse had just an enormous amount of bad luck (as the book subtitle suggests) or whether he was actually a very difficult person to deal with himself (and it is probably a bit of both). Later chapters focus on his support for lying the transatlantic cables, the growth of his telecom companies, and his now very controversial political views.

For me, the book surprised me already very early on when it described Morse's life as a painter (and a fairly good one!). I hadn't expect that for someone who, I figured, was best known as an inventor and early technologist. After his invention of the telegraph, his life didn't seem to consist much of improving his engineering designs (though I'm sure he wanted to) as it consisted much more fighting patent wars. Similarly the side-tracks in politics surprised me much and his controversial political views colored his character a lot.

All in all, the book was well written and felt very well researched. It is very thorough, so thorough that at times I had difficulty remembering who was who or what event this referred too. I think I'd get a lot out of the book if I would read it for a second time. Yet, the book wasn't perfect either, its thoroughness made it dull at times. For that reason, as that is the only negative thing I can find in this interesting book, I'll go for a 4 out of 5 star review. Recommended for those interested in telecommunication and history, not for those who want to learn about how telegraphs work or who want quick-read story.

Great book! Samuel Finley Breese Morse was a fascinating person to read about. I first became interested in him, when I went led a group to tour Historic Speedwell-the Birthplace of the Telegraph in Morristown, NJ a few weeks ago. I am an Assistant Organizer for The Jewish Mosaic Outdoor Mountain Club of Greater NY, found on meetup.com. After the days' activities, I put together a photobook and review of the tour and realized that there was very little information given about Morse himself, so I decided to read a biography of him.
In our day, his life seemed "accursed", but in his day, it was not. He had 11 siblings, but 8 died from childhood ailments. He had 8 children, but 2 died of childhood ailments. His first wife died very soon after giving birth to their last son. He was obsessed with marrying a woman who was his daughter's age, but was unable to find someone willing to marry him, since he was poor, on the road most of the time, old enough to be their father and had 3 kids. When he became wealthy at the age of 62, he found a deaf, almost mute, impoverished woman 4 years younger than his daughter, who was willing to marry him and bear 3 children with him.
He invented a water pump with his brother Sidney for the fire department. He invented the telegraph, but had several competitors and was slammed with lawsuits (not unusual for the day) from his competition, his partners, unknown people and his father's creditors. He also invented a machine that would find any breaks in the telegraph line to speed in the repair process.
His father was an abolitionist pastor, who sent his 3 sons to boarding school when they turned 8, to groom them to go to college and become abolitionist pastors as well. All his sons, but especially Samuel, were pro slavery. Samuel wrote many sickening articles and pamphlets, many published in his brothers' lucrative, weekly, religious newspaper about the inferiority of the Negro and why they needed to be enslaved. He "quoted" the Bible to justify slavery. He ran for Congress and mayor and lost both times-his proslavery stance did not sit well with NYers right before and after NY passed the Manumissions Act and joined the Union Side of the Civil War. While Sameul himself never owned slaves, his personal attorney (Amos Kendall), his financier (Judge Stephen Vail, owner of Speedwell Ironworks and a farmer), his mother's family in Charleston, his second wife's family in New Orleans and his son-in-law (Edward Lind, a Puerto Rican sugar plantation owner and rum manufacturer) did.
Before inventing the telegraph, Morse was an accomplished portrait painter. Some of his paintings still hang in several art museums and other places in NJ and NY. After his first wife died, he abandoned his children to pursue his painting career and shuffled them around from place to place, dumping them with whomever would take them for the cheapest rate. He especially shunned his mentally challenged son. He became a Professor of Painting and Sculpture at NYU and President of the Academy of Design. He lost the contract to paint the Capitol Rotundra, his dream painting. He was the first person in the US to set up a daguerotypes, a precursor to photography.

This is a biography that met all my requirements: it was fast paced, very informative, well written and well researched. There aren't many biographies that read like a novel, but this one does. It seemed as if I breezed through it without being aware of the pages. Silverman did a great job and I highly recommend it.

The Telegraph affected the 19th century like the internet has affected the 20th and 21st century. The jump from no comunications to instant communication with the telegraph was acclaimed by the US Congress as the greatest invention since time began.