{"product_id":"a-most-amazing-scene-of-wonders-electricity-and-enlightenment-in-early-america-9780674022997","title":"A Most Amazing Scene of Wonders: Electricity and Enlightenment in Early America","description":"\u003cp\u003eBenjamin Franklins invention of the lightning rod is the founding fable of American science  but Franklin was only one of many early Americans fascinated by electricity. As a dramatically new physical experience  electricity amazed those who dared to tame the lightning and set it coursing through their own bodies. Thanks to its technological and medical utility  but also its surprising ability to defy rational experimental mastery  electricity was a powerful experience of enlightenment  at once social  intellectual  and spiritual.  In this compelling book  James Delbourgo moves beyond Franklin to trace the path of electricity through early American culture  exploring how the relationship between human  natural  and divine powers was understood in the eighteenth century. By examining the lives and visions of natural philosophers  spectacular showmen  religious preachers  and medical therapists  he shows how electrical experiences of wonder  terror  and awe were connected to a broad array of cultural concerns that defined the American Enlightenment. The history of lightning rods  electrical demonstrations  electric eels  and medical electricity reveals how early American science  medicine  and technology were shaped by a culture of commercial performance  evangelical religion  and republican politics from mid-century to the early republic.  The first book to situate early American experimental science in the context of a transatlantic public sphere  A Most Amazing Scene of Wonders offers a captivating view of the origins of American science and the cultural meaning of the American Enlightenment. In a story of shocks and sparks from New England to the Caribbean  Delbourgo brilliantly illuminates a revolutionary New World of wonder.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45665855045685,"sku":"ByrdShop_0674022998","price":69.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780674022997.jpg?v=1782410594","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/a-most-amazing-scene-of-wonders-electricity-and-enlightenment-in-early-america-9780674022997","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}