The Last Days of Night: A Novel

New York, 1888. The miracle of electric light is in its infancy, and untold glory (and untold riches) await the man who can power the nation with this new technology. Thomas Edison, "the wizard of Menlo Park," has won the race to the patent office and is now suing his only remaining rival, George Westinghouse, for infringement for the unheard of sum of a billion dollars. To defend himself, Westinghouse makes a surprising choice in his attorney: he hires an untested twenty-six-year-old fresh out of Columbia Law School named Paul Cravath. The task facing Cravath is beyond daunting--Edison quickly shows himself an implacable and crafty opponent who will lie, cheat and betray (and worse) in order to win. To defeat Thomas Edison seems impossible, yet this young, unknown attorney shares with his famous opponent a compulsion to win at all costs. How will he do it? Paul, a man of principle, starts making compromises he never imagined. And as he takes greater and greater risks, he'll find that everyone is playing their own game, and no one is quite who they seem.