The Chair

Presenting a historical portrait of the development and implementation of the electric chair as a tool for the execution of criminals, Nicholas O'Dwyer's The Chair also depicts one of the most fascinatingly repellent episodes in the history of science and technology in the United States. When, on August 6, 1890, William Kemmler, a convicted murderer, became the first person to be executed in the electric chair, it came at the end of a long, circuitous (no pun intended!) search for a "more humane" and modern method of capital punishment. In the course of its investigation, the so-called New York State Death Commission considered some 300 means of execution, eventually--depending heavily on testimony given by Thomas Edison--adopting electricity as the solution of choice. Behind this macabre exercise, however, an even more bizarre drama unfolded. Edison, proponent of direct current (DC) to serve America's emergent electricity needs, had much to lose if his rival, George Westinghouse, gained supremacy in the same market with his alternating current (AC). Accordingly, Edison skewed his testimony in favor of AC in an attempt to form an unsavory link in Americans' minds. Illuminated by period photographs and film footage, court transcripts, personal communiqués of the competing parties, and a fine re-enactment of the first electric execution, this is a fascinating interdisciplinary history, which cuts across the fields of science and technology, penology, social justice, and industrial economics. "If," as one of Armistead Maupin's characters wryly notes, "Christ had been martyred in this century, we'd all be wearing little electric chairs around our necks." And if Edison had had his way, these pendants would carry the Westinghouse trademark! Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (M. Rechel)