Marconi: The Man Who Networked the World

A little over a century ago the world went wireless. By means of “Hertzian waves,” as radio waves were initially known, ships could now make contact with other ships (saving lives, such as on the doomed R.M.S. Titanic); financial markets could coordinate with other financial markets; military commanders could connect with the front lines. Someone had not only imagined this networked world but realized it: Guglielmo Marconi. rnrnRaboy connects significant parts of Marconi’s story, from his early days in Italy, to his groundbreaking experiments, to his role in world affairs. Raboy also explores Marconi’s relationships with his wives, mistresses, and children, and examines in unsparing detail the last ten years of the inventor’s life, when he returned to Italy and became a pillar of Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime. Raboy’s engrossing biography, which will stand as the authoritative work of its subject, proves that we still live in the world Marconi created.