Electrifying America examines how electricity transformed not merely technology but American culture itself during the decades between 1880 and 1940. David Nye, professor of American Studies at the University of Southern Denmark, traces the social construction of electrical meaning—how Americans came to understand and experience this invisible force that reshaped their world. The book moves beyond technical history to explore the symbolic dimensions of electrification: world's fairs that dramatized electric power as emblem of progress, cities that used spectacular lighting to assert metropolitan identity, and factories where electric motors reorganized both production and labor relations. Nye shows how different groups—manufacturers, utilities, advertisers, consumers—contested the meaning of electrical technology, with outcomes shaped by cultural assumptions as much as technical capabilities. His analysis includes electrification's darker dimensions: the widening gap between illuminated cities and dark rural areas, the displacement of workers by electrical machinery, and the transformation of night into an extended workday. For readers interested in how societies adopt and adapt to technological change, this book offers a sophisticated model for understanding technology as cultural process rather than autonomous force.