With vivid storytelling and deep historical insight, Electric City reveals how two titans of industry nearly reshaped America—and how their failure helped define the country's future.
Henry Ford and Thomas Edison—corporate chieftains and visionaries with similarities to Steve Jobs and Elon Musk—envisioned a radical new city on the banks of the Tennessee River: a sprawling, electric-powered metropolis fueled by renewable energy, governed by its own currency, and free from labor unions.
Their plan for a “Detroit of the South” promised technological marvels, mass commuting by car, and a future unburdened by pollution (or socialism).
But their vision collided with local resistance and political reality. What began as a corporate utopia was ultimately transformed into the Tennessee Valley Authority—one of the most enduring legacies of the New Deal.
In Electric City, acclaimed historian Thomas Hager unearths this extraordinary story of ambition, ideology, and the battle between private enterprise and public good. This acclaimed narrative nonfiction is a must-read, praised by the Wall Street Journal as "a well-researched, crisply written account tinged with irony."
Praise
"A well-researched, crisply written account tinged with irony"The Wall Street Journal
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“With incisive character sketches and insights into the tension between private and public interests, this is an illuminating portrait of a little-known chapter in American history.”Publishers Weekly
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“a beguiling history of the City That Almost Was...shining a crisp light on the tensions between private and public development with which we still grapple today.”Garden & Gun Magazine
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“as compelling as a good novel...Electric City is an excellent, illuminating narrative about an intriguing moment in American history that wound up having repercussions for generations.”The Oregonian
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“Thomas Hager’s Electric City is a rollicking and well-constructed story about power—electric power, political power, financial power—with a gallery of colorful and deeply human characters fighting to own the future. Hager brings Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and forgotten progressive giants like George Norris alive on the page. And he untangles complex but important strands of American history for easy inspection. In his capable hands, Muscle Shoals—and the Tennessee Valley Authority—are no longer dusty relics but fascinating examples of the great American experiment.”author of The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, Jonathan Alter
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“The best books about American history combine larger-than-life participants, engaging writing, and surprising twists and turns that provide both entertainment and the real story rather than mythology. Electric City by Thomas Hager checks every box. This is a book you don't want to miss.”New York Times bestselling author of The Vagabonds: The Story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison’s Ten-, Jeff Guinn
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“Electric City is an important story, well told. For decades the Tennessee River valley was a canvas on which visionaries sketched a plan for America’s future. Thomas Hager shows how hydropower and political power intertwined in a contest over who should own the river and its resources. A rich cast of characters drafted competing blueprints, each promising to engineer a resolution to the growing divide between urban and rural America. Their failures are as instructive as their successes.”author of The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America, Ernest Freeberg
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“Engrossing...Hager’s portrayal of the key players...is revelatory...A willingness to conjecture sets Hager apart from many of his contemporaries. That this ‘Electric City’ was only ever a dream does not detract from Hager’s masterful storytelling and keen eye for details that bring history of life.”Southern Review of Books
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"[a] fascinating, widely-sweeping slice of Americana”Winchester Sun
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"Electric City offers useful insights into why so many planned projects never come to fruition."City Journal
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