Around 1905, Thomas Edison electrocuted an elephant to death and filmed it. It was the first film of a live death recorded in history.
Topsy is an exploration on how the elephant went from the darling of the circus world to becoming public elephant enemy #1. The story involves P.T. Barnum and the origins of the American circus to Edison’s invention of the light bulb all the way through an epic war of the (electrical) currents with Westinghouse and Tesla to the creation of the motion picture and Coney Island.
It’s a unique book that has a little trouble at fist finding its feet. Once the author gets around to Edison and his light bulb, the book’s focus becomes clearer. It ends on a very sad note. Yes, I knew coming in to reading this that the elephant was going to die, but Daly writes her demise so beautifully. I wish he had written this way for the entire book. But, it’s a very valiant effort and a good read.
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