The debate between alternating current and direct current in the distribution of electricity is the subject of a new biopic starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon. The Current War, directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl), traces the professional rivalry between inventor Thomas Edison and engineer George Westinghouse in the late 1800s in the United States of America. Edison backed direct current while Westinghouse favoured alternating current, and both men go to war in the trailer. Nicholas Hoult stars as inventor Nikola Tesla, who, when asked what he does for a living, says, “I fix problems for idiots.” The movie will be premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9 and will be released in the US on November 24.
Reading
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Philosophy: The teachings of Taoism are offered to a contemporary readership in this new book
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All we imagine as work: The many lives of the tenacious, transnational Malayali nurse
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Branded ‘love jihad’, locked-up by police: Ankita and Hasnain’s five-month ordeal to get married
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‘A creative narrative based on facts’: How anthropologist Irawati Karve’s biography was written
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The UK wants to ban first-cousin marriages – but there’s an ethical challenge
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How students of Calcutta’s Hindu College created an idea of ‘the people of India’ under British rule
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Freedom for the wolves, death for the sheep: The pitfalls of unbridled business deregulation
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Power, privilege, peril: The many hues of Bangladesh’s green passport
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Why Sri Lankan activists opposed Adani wind energy project in Mannar
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A new book examines urban India’s changing attitudes to marriage and the reasons for this