The Rise and Fall of Ma Bell

This is a review of James Gleick’s book *The Telephone: A New History*, which traces the telephone from an experimental invention to a technology that reshaped business and society. It presents the rise and eventual decline of the Bell system as part of a broader story about innovation, competition and social change.

The review describes Alexander Graham Bell as a teacher of deaf pupils who pursued voice transmission through trial and error, amid advances in telegraphy and electromagnetism. It also highlights the commercial drive and patent culture of 19th-century America, while noting that the telephone was welcomed as a useful tool and criticised for making people feel hurried, harassed and less private.