Author of the new book, Edison & the Electric Chair: A Story of Light and Death, Mark Essig joins Guest Host Patt Morrison to discuss the race to define which electric current would take hold in ...

Thomas Edison was deeply concerned about public safety and stoutly opposed to capital punishment. Yet except for the rivalry with George Westinghouse, he would have remained a closet humanitarian. Or ...

On this day, Aug. 6, 1890, William Kemmler, a Buffalo, N.Y. man who murdered his wife with an ax, became the first person to die in the electric chair. Edison promoted direct current, or DC, for power ...

Yes, children really were hired to collect stray dogs for electrocution experiments to help determine which electric system would power the modern world. This is one of many events in the true story ...

Edison on the witness stand -- Early sparks -- The inventor -- Light -- Electricity and life -- "Down to the last penny" -- Wiring New York -- The hanging ritual -- The Death Penalty Commission -- ...