The amazing story of how the electric chair developed not out of the desire for a method of execution more humane than hanging but of an effort by one nineteenth century electric company to discredit the other. 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 in New York’s Auburn Pen- itentiary in August 1890—and was horribly botched. 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 question, he says, remains with us today: Can execution ever be considered humane? A superbly told tale of industrial and political skullduggery that brings to light a little-known chapter of modern American history. When Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse were building the first power plants in the country, electric light was a bizarre new technology that few people understood and many people feared. Adding to the confusion were the two competitors' attempts to promote their own systems and discredit the other. When New York State began considering electrocution as a method of capital punishment, Edison recommended Westinghouse's alternating current for the unseemly task. Westinghouse, not wanting the negative stigma associated with his system, fought back, and a truly well intentioned government effort to find a more humane method of execution became a courtroom battle for commercial supremacy between two competing pioneers. Moran's account is broad, covering the electric power struggle between Edison and Westinghouse, the trial and execution of the first man to die in the electric chair, and the history of the capital punishment debate in the U.S. Edison's popularity as a cultural hero lends appeal to the entertaining drama of the power companies' competition, and the surprisingly colorful history of the electric chair makes for fascinating reading. Gavin Quinn Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "Two Titans of capitalism locked in bitter public battle over the means of killing convicted murderers -- it is a macabre and enthralling story. In Executioner's Current , Richard Moran, a fine social historian, takes us in a crisp and incisive narrative to the heart of the emotional confusion that still characterizes American capital punishment." --Norval Morris, author of Maconochie's Gentlemen "Although the insidious lethal injection, which Richard Moran chillingly observes being adminstered, is now in fashion, the symbol for the Death Penalty remains the electric chair. It adds a timely twenty-first century dimension to the wretched thing to learn that Mr. Edison's contribution to the American criminal justice system was born of corporate greed. With the Death Penalty at last being revisited, Executioner's Current is a valuable contribution to the much-needed national conversation." --William S. McFeely, author of Proximity to Death "Executioner's Current is a brilliant description how the electric chair became one of America's first electric appliances. Moran's research is meticulous, his writing is superb, and his scholarship is unusually insightful. He shows how today's search for a more humane method to execute prisoners, now focused on lethal injection, has long historical roots and will continue as long as the executioner is in our employ." --Michael L. Radelet, author of In Spite of Innocence "Moran is a wonderful storyteller, and the history of the electric chair - - with rich A-C, D-C electric mogels trying to destroy each other's business - - makes a fascinating tale of greed, opportunism and hypocrisy. Thomas Edison's attempt to make George Westinghouse into America's Dr. Guillotine is worth reading by everyone who cares about business ethics, the death penalty and justice." --Alan M. Dershowitz, author of Why Terrorism Works: Understanding the Threat, Responding to the Challenge "Richard Moran has written a terrific book, a wise and compelling account of an episode in American history that speaks to some of today's mostly deeply held beliefs about capital punishment. He writes with the flair of a fi