Reviewed by Jes Burns

For the better part of a century, capital punishment has been a hot-button social topic in this country. Perhaps this explains the somewhat sensational title of Mark Essig’s new book, Edison & the Electric Chair. True, the advent of electrical execution as an acceptable form of capital punishment does play a role in the book, but it is secondary to topics such as the politics of invention, the cult of personality, and the motivations that fuel technology and progress. Thomas Edison did not invent the electric chair per se, but his desire to gain corporate and financial ascendancy over George Westinghouse pushed the apparatus into the consciousness of the nation.

Essig’s training as an historian echoes throughout the pages of Edison & the Electric Chair: His research is impeccable, and the bits of historical scandal are fascinating. The narrative, however, is sometimes a bit disjointed, jumping from topic to topic with reason, but without much in the way of rhyme. Essig paints Edison as a ruthless and proud businessman, dispelling the popular notions of the inventor as the untarnishable American hero of high school history lessons. If the book teaches us anything, it is that unsavory business practices are nothing new. Well, that, and the difference between alternating and direct current.