The Electric Chair: An Unnatural American History

by Craig Brandon

Book Overview

This book provides a history of the electric chair and analyzes its features, its development, and the manner of its use. Chapters cover the early conceptual stages as a humane alternative to hanging, and the rivalry between Edison and Westinghouse that was one of the main forces in the chair's adoption as a mode of execution. Also presented are an account of the terrible first execution and a number of the subsequent gruesome employments of the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786444932
• ISBN13: 9780786444939
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: McFarland & Company
• Length: 285 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A fine documentation of the "humane" killing device

Professor Brandon's in-depth research provides a fascinating account of the economic and historical background which led to the development of the electric chair. The ever-controversial topic of capital punishment finds additional fuel in this well-documented history. I highly recommend this book to those who consider important the social and moral issues surrounding capital punishment.

Great story, well told

Brandon did an excellent job of reviewing the voluminous historical documents and putting them into a fast paced story. This is not a tiring ponderous tirade against capital punishment but a rare objective history story.