An Entertainment for Angels

Electricity was the scientific fashion of the Enlightenment. Lecturers attracted huge audiences to marvel at sparkling fountains, flaming drinks, pirouetting dancers and electrified boys. Flamboyant experimenters made chains of soldiers leap into the air, while wealthy women titillated their admirers with a sensational electric kiss. Enlightenment optimists predicted that this new-found power would cure illnesses, improve crop production, even bring the dead back to life. Patricia Fara vividly portrays how Benjamin Franklin, better known as one of America's founding fathers, and his colleagues struggled to understand their strange and exciting experiments. Electricity was intertwined with Enlightenment politics, and by demonstrating their control of the natural world, philosophers hoped to gain authority over society. Their stunning electrical performances provided dramatic evidence of their special powers. An incredible story of the hamessing of nature by man - the beginnings of our technological age.