Whisper in the Air: Marconi, the Canada Years, 1902-1946

Kristopher Churchill is a Ph.D. candidate in history at York University.

This slim volume relates how, in 1902, Guglielmo Marconi “astounded
the world” with an early radio system that sent and received messages
across the Atlantic. Initially unable to convince his native Italian
government of the potential of his experiments, Marconi turned to
wealthy English relatives to help patent his early inventions and to
establish his companies. According to MacLeod, a combination of creative
spirit and entrepreneurial intuition drove Marconi to link the
continents of Europe and North America. While the first transmissions
were received in St. John’s, Newfoundland, it was Cape Breton that
became the North American terminus for the Marconi Company of Canada.
Driven from Newfoundland by the monopolistic Anglo-American Telegraph
Company, Marconi’s firm, states MacLeod, found Cape Breton a suitable
second choice in terms of geography, finances, and politics.

As the jacket blurb indicates, MacLeod’s intention is to give the
reader a “picture of Marconi the man and his relationship with others,
while gripping us with the story of his magnificent obsession.” While
the prose is clear and the subject interesting, local history buffs and
the uninitiated will be more satisfied than will specialists, simply
because so much more could have been attempted. The larger interpretive
questions that historians ask concerning the early 20th century are
largely avoided. For instance, a more satisfying book would have
explained in detail the desire of all three levels of government to have
Marconi settle in Cape Breton. Such contextualized treatment of
motivations would have opened the door to a better understanding of
business practices, boosterism, and attitudes toward science and
progress in the early years of this century. Thus, the book remains a
serious but nonacademic narrative. Its greater worth may be that it will
encourage more work in the history of science and technology in this
country.