MARC record from Internet Archive

LEADER: 03732cam 2200517 a 4500
001 ocm53832420
003 OCoLC
005 20211025192652.0
008 031204s2003 nyua b 001 0 eng
040 $aNMP$beng$cNMP$dTDL$dOCLCQ$dBAKER$dYDXCP$dNZAUC$dOCLCG$dFBO$dOCLCF$dOCLCQ$dOCLCO$dI8M$dOCLCQ$dOCLCO$dOCLCQ
019 $a670786544
020 $a037572446X
020 $a9780375724466
035 $a(OCoLC)53832420$z(OCoLC)670786544
043 $an-us---
050 4 $aHV8696$b.M67 2003
082 04 $a364.66$221
100 1 $aMoran, Richard.
245 10 $aExecutioner's current :$bThomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the invention of the electric chair /$cRichard Moran.
250 $a1st Vintage books ed.
260 $aNew York :$bVintage Books,$c2003.
300 $axxii, 271 pages :$billustrations ;$c21 cm
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$bnc$2rdacarrier
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
505 0 $a"William, it is time" -- The battle of the currents: Edison versus Westinghouse, DC versus AC -- The new electrical execution law -- Harold Brown and the "executioner's current" -- "I'll take the rope": the life, crime, and trial of William Kemmler -- Unusually cruel punishment -- Neither cruel nor unusual punishment -- Kemmler's legacy: the search for a humane method of execution.
520 1 $a"The story of how the electric chair developed not out of the desire for a method of execution more humane than hanging but through an effort by one nineteenth-century electric company to discredit the other."
520 8 $a"In 1882, Thomas Edison launched "the age of electricity" by lighting up a portion of Manhattan with his direct current (DC) system. Six years later George Westinghouse lit up Buffalo with his less expensive alternating current (AC). They quickly became locked in a battle for market share. Richard Moran shows that Edison, in order to maintain commercial dominance, set out to blacken the image of Westinghouse's AC by persuading the State of New York to electrocute condemned criminals with AC current. Westinghouse, determined to keep AC from becoming known as the "executioner's current," fought to stop the first electrocution, claiming that use of the electric chair constituted cruel and unusual punishment. The legal battle that ensued ended when the Supreme Court refused to rule. The electrocution of William Kemler went forward at New York's Auburn Penitentiary in August 1890 - and was horribly botched."
520 8 $a"Moran makes clear how this industry tug-of-war raised many profound and disturbing questions, not only about electrocution but about the technological nature of the search for a humane method of execution. And the fundamental problem, he says, remains with us today: No method of execution can ever be considered humane."--Jacket
600 10 $aEdison, Thomas A.$q(Thomas Alva),$d1847-1931.
600 10 $aWestinghouse, George,$d1846-1914.
650 0 $aElectrocution$zUnited States$xHistory.
600 17 $aEdison, Thomas A.$q(Thomas Alva),$d1847-1931$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst00061561
600 17 $aWestinghouse, George,$d1846-1914$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst00133674
650 7 $aElectrocution.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst00906398
651 7 $aUnited States.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst01204155
655 4 $aTrue crime literature.
655 7 $aHistory.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst01411628
938 $aBaker & Taylor$bBKTY$c15.00$d11.25$i037572446X$n0004197695$sactive
938 $aYBP Library Services$bYANK$n2002288
029 1 $aAU@$b000058060641
029 1 $aNZ1$b8222965
029 1 $aYDXCP$b2002288
994 $aZ0$bP4A
948 $hNO HOLDINGS IN P4A - 64 OTHER HOLDINGS