368 pages. $31.99.
Imagine waiting two weeks for news to cross the Atlantic Ocean. That was the fastest information could travel until 1866, when a 2,000-mile undersea telegraph cable successfully wired North America to Europe. In the words of Waitsfield author James M. Tabor, the cable was “world-changing” — it reshaped Victorian society and kicked off the modern information age. But you may be wondering: How did they do that?
The author of two other acclaimed books about daredevil ventures — Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth and Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering’s Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters — Tabor has the answers. Published on June 1, his Lightning Beneath the Sea: The Race to Wire the World and the Dawn of the Information Age tells a thrilling story that starts with a New York paper magnate hatching a “wild and visionary scheme,” in the words of one of his investors. Cyrus Field’s dream of laying the first transatlantic cable took more than a decade to realize, facing obstacles such as apocalyptic storms, inadequate ships, leaky and broken cables, and a grandstanding electrician who lived up to his name, Wildman Whitehouse.
Tabor starts his story in medias res with Field’s near-fatal encounter with a historic Atlantic tempest. Then he goes back to trace the project’s evolution in short chapters that are rich in cliff-hangers and dramatic reversals. As compulsively readable as it is informative, Lightning Beneath the Sea will make you marvel at the heroic chutzpah of Field and his fellow Victorians next time you casually check minutes-old global news on your phone.
We asked Tabor, 78, three questions about the book.
You’ve already written books about exploring the world’s highest mountains and deepest caves. What drew you to this subject?
When I first learned about it, it was during the 150th anniversary of the cable laying, which was 10 years ago. I was working on a novel at that time, but I have kind of like a “writer’s scanner.” It never sleeps. When I started to look at [the story], I saw that it had all the components of a really good narrative nonfiction history book. In other words, a hero and a story that everybody knows a little tiny bit about, but there’s a whole lot more to it.
What was your favorite part of researching and writing this book — or what was the hardest part?
There have been technical books written about the cable for engineers and scientists, but I couldn’t find a really good book about the man behind the project. So I started trying to get to know Cyrus Field. He didn’t do an autobiography, he didn’t write any journals, so that became a significant challenge.
The more I got to know him, the more I liked the guy. He was truly a likable guy with a good heart and a good purpose. So that was both the easiest and the hardest and the most rewarding [part], because he just deserved a lot more than he unfortunately got.
Cyrus Field might remind readers of today’s tech billionaires. What do you think?
I don’t think there is one [comparable to him] today, and I’ll tell you why. When Cyrus Field made a decision to go after the cable project, there were really two motivating things for him. One was peace on Earth, which we kind of chuckle at, but, in fact, that was consensus back in those days. If you could wire the continents for instantaneous communication, you would usher in a new era of peace on Earth. And he was also a hyper-religious guy, so I think he believed in his heart that this could really change the way people live and communicate.
He was a businessman, so he saw that anybody who controls that cable will make an ocean of money. But I think the moral component of believing that he might engender peace on Earth was valid and genuine, and I just don’t see that in any of our tech billionaires today. ➆
This interview was edited for clarity and length.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Wet-Wired | Three questions for author James M. Tabor on his new book about the first transatlantic cable”
This article appears in June 24 • 2026.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
