The remarkable story of the telegraph and the nineteeth century's on-line pioneers. A truly fascinating book!
The electric telegraph in the 19th century: an often overlooked innovation. But for my history-geek tastes, this book did not cover the subject with enough depth. It gives a brief history of early innovators of the electric telegraph and lists lots of amusing antidotes about how the public came to use the telegraph. (The parts I found most interesting were how telegraph operators created their own lingo and developed 'online' relationships within their profession.) Without admirable characters throughout or a unique storyline to drive the narrative (like the author's other book "The Turk"), this book is simply an easy-to-read overview about the telegraph. While amusing and informative, "The Victorian Internet" does not make history come alive.
Interesting to get the European side. Apparently, visual telegraphs were around since the French revolution on the continent, and the electric telegraph was being developed independent of Samuel Morse in Great Britain. We don't read about that in American History books.
