| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 108.1

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 108.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

John A. Jakle. City Lights: Illuminating the American Night. (Landscapes of the Night.) Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2001. Pp. x, 292. $45.00.

John A. Jakle's book offers a cultural geographer's view of the illumination of American cities. It is engagingly written, has many fine illustrations, and relies on much hitherto uncited material. The book divides into two main sections: a chronological overview of the evolution of outdoor lighting technology (pp. 19–92), and case studies of important applications such as streets, city celebrations, world's fairs, amusement parks, landmarks, electric signs, the "great white way," and main streets/commercial strips (pp. 93–254). 1

The overview begins with a brief chapter on gas and oil but focuses primarily on electric lighting after 1878. It is a useful synthesis that rejects determinism without, however, explicitly advocating another explanatory system. Jakle says little about the acrimonious debate concerning public vs. private power, and in his account "cities" adopt a sequence of different, overlapping lighting systems. He makes clear that after 1892 General Electric (GE) and Westinghouse completely dominated the electrical manufacturing industry, yet he neglects their extensive ownership of utility stocks and their instigation, through the National Electric Lighting Association, of enormous advertising and public relations campaigns between 1910 and 1930. Congress exhaustively investigated these activities, but Jakle overlooks the hearings. One need not subscribe to hegemony theories, yet the evidence that supports that view cannot simply be ignored. . . .

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