W. W. Norton & Company, 2013
By Theresa Levitt, associate professor of history
“Levitt interweaves the personal triumph of the French physicist…with his pathbreaking work on the nature of light in her fascinating recounting of how the coasts of the world were made safe for the world’s seafaring vessels through a mix of genius, ingenuity, and perseverance.”—Joyce Appleby, author of The Relentless Revolution: A History of Capitalism