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Loading... Edison and the Electric Chair: A Story of Light and Death (original 2003; edition 2004)| 241 | 1 | 111,157 | 
(3.92) | 3 | A Discover magazine Top Science Book Thomas Edison stunned America in 1879 by unveiling a world-changing invention--the light bulb--and then launching the electrification of America's cities. A decade later, despite having been an avowed opponent of the death penalty, Edison threw his laboratory resources and reputation behind the creation of a very different sort of device--the electric chair. Deftly exploring this startling chapter in American history, Edison & the Electric Chair delivers both a vivid portrait of a nation on the cusp of modernity and a provocative new examination of Edison himself. Edison championed the electric chair for reasons that remain controversial to this day. Was Edison genuinely concerned about the suffering of the condemned? Was he waging a campaign to smear his rival George Westinghouse's alternating current and boost his own system? Or was he warning the public of real dangers posed by the high-voltage alternating wires that looped above hundreds of America's streets? Plumbing the fascinating history of electricity, Mark Essig explores America's love of technology and its fascination with violent death, capturing an era when the public was mesmerized and terrified by an invisible force that produced blazing light, powered streetcars, carried telephone conversations--and killed.… (more) |
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To my parents, Dorothy and John Essig.  | |
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"Mr. Edison, what is your calling - your profession?" "Inventor." | |
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Life in the Menlo Park laboratory partakes more of the character of a camp pitched near the battlefield than of anything else. - reporter One rainy day afternoon before the official start-up of the Edison system, a policeman ran into the Pearl Street station and said there was trouble at the corner of Ann and Nassau Streets. Edison rushed to the spot, where a wet patch of pavement was giving electric shocks, and a large crowd had gathered to await the next unwary passerby. An hundred persons are made worse, where one is made better by a public execution. - 1826 When I go to church, I cannot help thinking whether its walls do not sometimes echo, "Strangle and kill in the name of God!" - Walt Whitman During the same years that pain became unacceptable, the public grew more fascinated with violence and death...Horror writing had not existed in the pre-modern world, when physical torment was an accepted part of everyday life. But when suffering became obscene, the stage was set for a pornography of pain. Your points are well taken, and though I would join heartily in an effort to totally abolish capital punishment, I at the same time realize that while the system is recognized by the State, it is the duty of the latter to adopt the most humane method available for the purpose of disposing of criminals under sentence of death. - Edison to Southwick, Nov 1887 In 1896 a white boy at a southern fair paid a nickel to hear the Edison phonograph and was treated to a recording of two black men being burned alive. The humor magazine Puck offered a backhanded defense: "Edison is not a humbug. He is a man of a type common enough in this country-- a smart, persevering, sanguine, ignorant, show-off American. He can do a great deal and he thinks he can do everything." (p. 49-50) | |
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In the image of a young child - with 'the lightest pressure of the finger - pushing a button to end a man's life,' he captured the true terror of the electric chair: When killing is made scientific, when it is made easier, it becomes not less but more horrifying. (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.) | |
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▾References References to this work on external resources.  Wikipedia in English
None ▾Book descriptions A Discover magazine Top Science Book Thomas Edison stunned America in 1879 by unveiling a world-changing invention--the light bulb--and then launching the electrification of America's cities. A decade later, despite having been an avowed opponent of the death penalty, Edison threw his laboratory resources and reputation behind the creation of a very different sort of device--the electric chair. Deftly exploring this startling chapter in American history, Edison & the Electric Chair delivers both a vivid portrait of a nation on the cusp of modernity and a provocative new examination of Edison himself. Edison championed the electric chair for reasons that remain controversial to this day. Was Edison genuinely concerned about the suffering of the condemned? Was he waging a campaign to smear his rival George Westinghouse's alternating current and boost his own system? Or was he warning the public of real dangers posed by the high-voltage alternating wires that looped above hundreds of America's streets? Plumbing the fascinating history of electricity, Mark Essig explores America's love of technology and its fascination with violent death, capturing an era when the public was mesmerized and terrified by an invisible force that produced blazing light, powered streetcars, carried telephone conversations--and killed. ▾Library descriptions No library descriptions found. ▾LibraryThing members' description
| Book description |
A Discover magazine Top Science Book
Thomas Edison stunned America in 1879 by unveiling a world-changing invention--the light bulb--and then launching the electrification of America's cities. A decade later, despite having been an avowed opponent of the death penalty, Edison threw his laboratory resources and reputation behind the creation of a very different sort of device--the electric chair. Deftly exploring this startling chapter in American history, Edison & the Electric Chair delivers both a vivid portrait of a nation on the cusp of modernity and a provocative new examination of Edison himself.
Edison championed the electric chair for reasons that remain controversial to this day. Was Edison genuinely concerned about the suffering of the condemned? Was he waging a campaign to smear his rival George Westinghouse's alternating current and boost his own system? Or was he warning the public of real dangers posed by the high-voltage alternating wires that looped above hundreds of America's streets? Plumbing the fascinating history of electricity, Mark Essig explores America's love of technology and its fascination with violent death, capturing an era when the public was mesmerized and terrified by an invisible force that produced blazing light, powered streetcars, carried telephone conversations--and killed. | |
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