Professor Isenstadt's five fascinating case studies of the architecture of electric light show how it created new kinds of space, precipitated new social relations, and simultaneously led to bedazzlement and obscurity.
David E. Nye, Senior Research Fellow, University of Minnesota. Author of American Illumination: Urban Lighting, 1800–1920s and Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology, 1880-1940
In focusing on selective histories of what now seem largely mundane, unremarkable innovations in illumination, Sandy Isenstadt reveals the initial astonishment that greeted their world-changing capacities, the sense of wonder that prefigured their rapid transformation into institutionalized, standardized modern technologies. In five dazzling chapters, we learn of the amazingly instantaneous metamorphoses of space wrought by the humble light switch, the instrumental deployment of electric radiance to increase factory production, the phantasmagorical transfiguration of the nocturnal road in the glare of the car's headlights, the lurid commercial cajolery of Times Square and the multivalent advent of the blackout. Furnishing the account with bounteous empirical detail and theoretical elegance throughout, Isenstadt has written a fascinating, engaging book that will prove essential for historians and social scientists of all stripes.
Tim Edensor, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, author of From Light to Dark: Daylight, Illumination, and Gloom
For historians of architecture, this book provides valuable insights into the invention and evolution of this essential but underappreciated tool for creating modern spaces. And general readers will likewise enjoy this thoughtful and richly illustrated guide to what the author aptly calls 'modernity's medium.' We see electric light every day, but after reading this book, you will look at it in new ways.
Ernest Freeberg, author of The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America
In varying the scope of his reflections—from the detail of the light switch to the suspended temporality of a city's electrified streets—Isenstadt engages readers on a compelling journey at the intersection of society, culture, and technology. Rather than deploying aesthetic categories, Isenstadt focuses on new visual habits
The Architect's Newspaper
Isenstadt's book explores an understudied field, making valuable contributions and connections between studies of science, technology, and society (STS) as well as art and architectural history. The book is also written in a sophisticated yet accessible manner for readers who simply want to expand their horizon.
The Journal of Architectural Education
Isenstadt has created a work that is every bit as bright and kaleidoscopic as the Great White Way he describes with such relish. His prose is always provocative and punchy, whether he is describing the invention of the light switch or evoking Martin Heidegger, James Joyce, and Marcel Proust.
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
