In “The Grid: A Journey Through the Heart of Our Electrified World”, Phillip Schewe provides his readers with a historical backdrop to the “largest industrial investment in history” – the electrical grid. He discusses the key players in its development – from the scientific geniuses who converted electricity from a curiosity to an essential tool for modern life, to the entrepreneurs who built the electrical infrastructure and marketed and sold power to the masses, to the political leaders who deemed it in the national interest to get the government into the power business to expand access to this essential commodity. Schewe writes from a fairly general point of view and avoids getting into too much technical or economic detail. He does often complement his historical summarizing with philosophical meanderings, which in my opinion add little value to the overall presentation.
