Acknowledgement; Introduction; Chapter 1, Modern Prometheus and Chapter 2, A Gambling Man Summary and Analysis

The book begins with a set of acknowledgments and then an introduction. Though the author is Margaret Cheney, the introduction contains numerous quotes by others. The introduction explains a bit about the history of writings both by and about Nikola Tesla. This is a slightly complex material. The biography by Ms. Cheney is the first one written in some time. An earlier work titled Prodigal Genius was the first and foremost biographical work about Tesla; it was written by John J. O'Neill and came out in 1943. The first Touchstone edition of the present title was published in 2001. The author explains in the introduction that there were a few other biographies, but they were outlandish.

The first chapter is titled Modern Prometheus. It begins...