Lightning in His Hand, the Life-Story of Nikola Tesla

Lightning in His Hand is a complete biography of Tesla's life, from his birth in Croatia in 1856 to his death in New York in 1943. Very little of Tesla's life was spent in Colorado, but Hunt and Draper make his time here the crux of their story. After an auspicious early life in Europe, Tesla came to America. He worked for a time with Thomas Edison, but their paths diverged after Edison denied Tesla a promised fifty thousand dollars for his labors. Stunned at this infidelity, Tesla joined with Edison's rival George Westinghouse in the "battle of the currents," pitting Edison and his advocacy of direct current against Westinghouse, Tesla, and their work on alternating current. The winner would determine which flavor of electricity powered America. Well before Tesla came to Colorado Springs, this battle was waged on one important front in Colorado. Westinghouse (using Tesla's patents) built an alternating current plant to provide power to Telluride's Gold King Mine in 1891. It was an early victory for alternating current, and by association, Tesla's genius. His fame grew over the next decade, and by the end of the century Tesla desired a lab of his own in which to conduct more advanced electrical experiments.