November
1, 2002
Moran
to Discuss Invention of the Electric Chair November 5
Writes
Alan M. Dershowitz of criminologist Richard Moran and the MHC
sociology professor's latest book, Executioner's Current: Thomas
Edison, George Westinghouse, and the Invention of the Electric
Chair (Alfred Knoff, 2002), "Moran is a wonderful storyteller
. . . 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." In
the book, Moran describes the creation of the electric chair,
which was developed not out of the desire for a new method of
execution, but in an effort by one electric company to discredit
the other. Moran will discuss Executioner's Current on
Tuesday, November 5, at 7 pm at the Odyssey Bookshop. The event
is cosponsored by the sociology and anthropology department, and
C-SPAN will tape this event for future broadcast.
The book traces the
origins of the electric chair to the battle for market share between
Thomas Edison, who in 1882 launched "the age of electricity"
by lighting up Manhattan with his direct current (DC), and George
Westinghouse, who lit up Buffalo six years later with his less
expensive alternating current (AC). To maintain his dominance
of the industry, Edison set out to give Westinghouse a bad name
by persuading the state of New York to electrocute condemned criminals
with AC current. Westinghouse, determined to save AC from becoming
known as the "executioner's current," fought to
stop the first electrocution, arguing that use of the electric
chair constituted cruel and unusual punishment. A legal battle
ensued, ending when the Supreme Court refused to rule. The electrocution
of William Kemmler was conducted and horribly mishandled.
Moran details a little-known
chapter in modern American history and the origins of the capital
punishment debate that continues. Moran is the author of Knowing
Right from Wrong: The Insanity Defense of Daniel McNaughtan
(The Free Press, 1981) and many articles and reviews. He has also
served as a commentator for National Public Radio's Morning
Edition and written op-eds for the Boston Globe, the
Washington Post, the New York Times, Newsweek, the
Los Angeles Times, and the Christian Science Monitor.
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