Beginning with "Boston Light," America's first lighthouse, Eric Jay Dolin shows how the story of America, from colony to global industrial power, can be understood through its lighthouses. As the nation expanded, so too did the coastlines in need of illumination, from New England to the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes, the Pacific Coast all the way to Alaska. In Dolin's hands we see how each of these beacons tell its own story of political squabbling, technological advancement, and individual derring-do. Illustrated with 150 images, this history's cast includes soldiers, saboteurs, ruthless egg collectors, and the heroic lighthouse keepers themselves.