My daughter got me this book for Christmas: http://www.amazon.com/Empires-Light-Edison-Westinghouse-Electrify/dp/0375758844/ref=sr_1_1
As readers here know, Edison and Westinghouse fought over whether to use DC or AC. That was big news in the 1880s but people soon forget it. This book is not technical. It is more about the history and the people. It is well written. You can read the first chapter on line at Amazon.com. There are many controversies in cold fusion now, such as who should get how much credit for the nanoparticle Ni-H approach. You can make a case for Mills, Piantelli or Rossi, or even Arata. This dispute is similar to the dispute about who developed commercial radio, Lee De Forest or Fleming. This dispute was big news at the time, but it is forgotten today. It is described in another book with a similar title: "Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio." De Forest did invent the triode, as far as I know. - Jed
