The single-wire telegraph revolutionized long distance communication but it was not the brainchild of one inventor, Samuel Morse. His colleagues and employees--specifically Ezra Cornell and Joseph Henry--made crucial contributions. Examining the careers of the three men and the key events, this book presents Morse as primarily a businessman and consolidator of ideas who, frequently in conflict with his associates, sought to present the telegraph as a uniform system under his sole imprimatur. The battle between Morse and Cornell over the invention of the magnetic relay was central to the drama. What emerges is a complex portrait of three ambitious and brilliant innovators and the age in which they lived. “The sections on Cornell are fascinating”―Carleton Mabee, Pulitzer Prize winning author and biographer of Samuel Morse; “This outstanding work, peppered with insightful details, is an extraordinary history based on fresh research about three colorful and controversial characters. An absorbing narrative to the very last page! Sure to be part of the library of every transportation and communication scholar.”―Michelle P. Figliomeni, President, Orange County Historical Society; “Lifshitz provides a delight-to-read examination of a pivotal event in the history of American technology. At many points he challenges accepted wisdom and offers new interpretations of the motivations of the actors and their actions”― Marc Rothenberg, former editor of the Joseph Henry Papers Project. The late Kenneth B. Lifshitz lectured widely on such topics as the great chain across the Hudson and The Franklin Marble. Also a bass player, he performed with local and regional symphony orchestras. He lived in the Catskill region of New York.