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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As Exciting as It Is Illuminating, October 3, 2003
This review is from: Edison and the Electric Chair: A Story of Light and Death (Hardcover)
It's a good thing Thomas Edison invented the electric bulb. I couldn't put Edison and the Electric Chair down, so it was well after dark by the time I finished. Whether you're a fan of books about history, science, and/or technology; curious about Edison and his role in the invention and promotion of the electric chair; or just like to get involved in a great story, you've got to read this book. Essig does far more than simply explain the contradiction between Edison the man opposed to the death penalty and Edison the expert witness in New York's hearings on adopting the electric chair as a method of execution. He goes much further than merely pointing out the business reasons underlying Edison's advocacy of the chair (reasons explained far less entertainingly in a couple of other books). Essig makes real the fascinating people involved -- like William Kemmler, the first man to die by electrocution, and George Westinghouse, Edison's major rival in bringing electricity to American homes, not to mention Edison himself. He gives you just enough information about how electricity travels to our homes and the difference between AC (alternating current) and DC (direct current) to illuminate the story. And, while providing unflinching details about the science of killing, he also managed to make me laugh at loud with this disturbingly absurd episode in our country's continuing saga of government-sanctioned execution.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating and broader than its title suggests, October 11, 2003
This review is from: Edison and the Electric Chair: A Story of Light and Death (Hardcover)
Two inventors and industrial giants grappled in commercial combat over primacy in the emerging electric power industry in the late 19th and early 20th century. They were Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. The strategic hill of the battle was whether direct current (Edison) or alternating current (Westinghouse) would prevail. Edison made the safer system, but Westinghouse made the more economical system, because alternating current could be transmitted over longer distances with fewer generating stations. While the marketing battle raged, New York had the inspiration to move from execution by hanging to electrocution. Hanging was notoriously fallible (necks did not snap so the victim strangled slowly, or necks snapped too well, decapitating the victim). New York solicited the opinion of the foremost authority on electricity, Edison. Edison, an opponent of the death penalty, demurred at first. But the temptation to dramatically equate his enemy's system of electricity with death proved too strong. Yes, Edison said, electrocution is just the thing, and alternating current is the best method of electrocution. So New York's electrical execution law passed, and the appeal progressed of the first victim of the electric chair. His attorney, W. Bourke Cockran, secretly paid by Westinghouse, argued that electrocution was cruel and unusual under the Constitution, and so could not be imposed. Expert witness and secret Edison shill Harold Brown disagreed. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. This book tells the story of how a convicted murderer, William Kemmler, became a pawn in a battle between electrical titans. But the book is much more. It is a history of the electrical industry when electrical power was new and miraculous, technologically on the cutting edge. The book is also a history and sociology of the death penalty (very interesting), and a biography of Edison. Edison & the Electric Chair is also a window into industrial-strength ruthlessness and a portrait of a time when powerful industries could defy laws, kill people, and get away with it. The book also pauses to inform the reader of such things as how the electric chair kills (it cooks and carbonizes the brain), and of how the first death penalty electrocutions were badly botched ("He's alive!"). This book is readable and illuminating. You might not change your mind about the death penalty after reading it, but your opinion will definitely be more profound.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating History, October 26, 2003
This review is from: Edison and the Electric Chair: A Story of Light and Death (Hardcover)
Today we all take electricity for granted. We pay monthly fees to large utility companies, and whenever we buy an electrical appliance we plug it in and it works. But we never think about the fact that as recently as the late 19th century, electricity in homes and businesses was a rarity. And it wasn't the government or large public companies who were rolling it out to communities across the US, but instead entrepreneurs like Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse competing to develop different types of electrical services and rushing to sign up as many customers as possible to their own companies' proprietary standards. Perhaps the biggest rivalry in the electrical field was between Edison, who promoted his direct current system, a relatively low voltage system whose electricity could not be transmitted across a broad area without installing additional generators, and Westinghouse, whose alternating current systems allowed very high voltages to be transmitted across very large distances. No safety standards existed for the budding electric industry, so in an attempt to maintain his early business lead, Edison and his colleagues did what they could to publicize the dangers of allowing high voltage alternating current into people's homes and neighborhoods, and the relative safety of direct current. The story of electricity in itself is a fascinating business story that parallels a lot of what we've seen in the late 20th century with the internet rush and the mad dash to roll out hundreds of ISPs, most of which have fallen by the wayside as saner business models prevail and the industry consolidates. The business ethics at the time leave a lot to be desired, not unlike the business ethics of the late 20th century. But this engaging first-time author, Mark Essig, doesn't stop with the history of the electrical industry. He overlays the story of capital punishment into the picture. Humanists in the 19th century were debating whether the various methods used for capital punishment were humane. The use of electricity was raised as a possible painless alternative to hangings and other "barbaric" methods of killing criminals. Ironically, Edison promoted his rival Westinghouse's alternating current system as the perfect solution to the capital punishment dilemma, by stating that its dangerous system would instantly kill any criminals, not to mention thousands of regular consumers who might accidentally get in its way. This book was a truly terrific mix of history and anecdotes about a very interesting period in history that still impacts us today and that has many parallels in modern day business. And while the book doesn't take sides on the capital punishment debate, it certainly raises a lot of interesting issues and is certain to cause a lot of discussion in that area as well. I strongly recommend it.
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