Thomas Edison's greatest invention? His own fame. Starting with the first public demonstrations of the phonograph in 1878 and extending through the development of incandescent light and the first motion-picture cameras, Thomas Edison's name became emblematic of all the wonder and promise of the emerging age of technological marvels. But this critical biography of the man who is arguably the most famous of all Americans provides a fuller view of Edison's life and times-revealing not only how he worked, but how he managed his own fame, becoming the first great celebrity of the modern age.