This compelling saga recounts the human effort to capture the power of the wind for electricity--from the first European windmills, to nineteenth-century experiments in rural electrification, to the immense wind farms in California and the plains states that feed the power grid today. Environmental historian Robert W. Righter describes eccentric inventors and technical innovations, analyzes the politics of the power industry, past and present, and demonstrates that individuals and small businesses have made the greatest contributions to wind-energy development. Righter includes contemporary developments, including U.S. government research and regulation and the international race for dominance in the wind-turbine business.