AC/DC: The Savage Tale of the First Standards War by Tom McNicholMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
From Ben Franklin to industry after Edison and Westinghouse, this is a thorough examination of AC vs. DC electricity standards with an important role played by eccentric and unreliable Tesla. I have heard the story about Edison's stubborn and short-sighted clinging to DC and Westinghouse getting the AC edge thanks largely to Tesla's insights and his visionary induction motor, but this goes into much, much more detail of the horrific canine electrocutions done when Edison supported the similarly monomaniacal Harold P. Brown. Along the way this tells the story of the birth of electrocution as a capital punishment and the denouement of the Edison's side's animal cruelty in using electricity (AC, of course) to put down circus elephant Topsy. Topsy outgrew her value as a "baby elephant" and no longer of use for entertainment, was worth more for the grisly souvenirs that could be made from her carcass. Filmed and still available in video, this 1903 act proved to be the first step to culminating over a century later in the modern circus saying goodbye to elephants.
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