History of telegraphy /

Beauchamp, a 76-year old Fellow of the British Institution of Electrical Engineers, died just as this commendable book went to press. Its first section, "Terrestrial Telegraphy," moves quickly from mechanical to electronic systems, covering overland lines as well as underwater cables. Beauchamp does a splendid job of explaining how both European and US commercial users adapted this new technology during the 19th century and spread it around the world. Beauchamp is particularly adept in telling how telegraphy affected military communications, for instance in the Crimean War, and its transformation of transoceanic communications. The second section, "Aerial Telegraphy," follows a similar pattern of historical development from the 19th century through the 20th until the years after WW II, when telephony, telex, and digital technologies began to surpass telegraphy. The author discusses problems in setting up appropriate training schools for signals operators and installations engineers. The second section also explores multiband systems and codes and includes more technical detail; this section often relies on unpublished materials uncovered in the Public Records Office. The book is peppered with useful illustrations and well-chosen maps. General readers; lower-division undergraduates through faculty. R. E. Bilstein emeritus, University of Houston--Clear Lake