The Devil in the White City (edit title)

• Rated 5 stars

“(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

So I finally got a chance over Christmas to read Erik Larson's massively popular and influential 2003 The Devil in the White City, basically the first post-9/11 book to combine academic-worthy research with a gripping, fiction-like narrative style, a combination which has become so popular that it's inspired an entire subgenre of nonfiction titles by now. And it's extra ironic that it should take me in particular this long to finally get around to it, in that it's all about a specific period of Chicago history, and it seems sometimes as if the entire population of this city has read it at one point or another; specifically, it tells the dual tales of the 1893 World's Fair down in Jackson Park on the south side (mostly through the eyes of lead architect Daniel Burnham), one of the most important events in Chicago's history, along with the sordid tale of H.H. Holmes, one of the first-ever modern serial killers back in the same days of Jack The Ripper, who built a block-long hotel across the street from the fair which turned out in reality to be a massive multifloor torture chamber, including secret passageways, dissection tables, and a body-sized gas oven in the basement, all of which he used to kill up to perhaps as many as 200 young good-looking single women before finally being caught. It's utterly fascinating, a well-done and easily readable project that deserves the reputation it's developed over the last half-decade; although let me warn you that this book is guilty as well of something I can't stand, which is the deliberate withholding of obvious information at the ends of chapters as a way of falsely building narrative tension. (For example, Larson mentions George Ferris and the construction of his Ferris Wheel a dozen times before ever mentioning the word "Ferris," sometimes in these really awkward ways that profoundly point out just how deliberately he's avoiding mentioning it, even though it's patently obvious from the start that this is what he's talking about.) Other than that quibble, though, I found the book nearly perfect for what it's trying to accomplish, and it comes highly recommended not only to those interested in Chicago history but also urban planning, the Victorian Age, and lurid true crime.

Out of 10: 9.5”

• Rated 5 stars

“Very good book!! My favorite of Erik Larson.”

• Rated 3 stars

“This "I liked it" should be heavily qualified. The author seems to think that the story of the Chicago Exhibition was not exciting enough so he felt he had to add the serial-murderer story line -- or perhaps he didn't have enough about the murderer to make a book by itself. The story of the exhibition and all its participants, ups and downs, is quite fascinating enough, and the amount of research is very impressive -- but Larson really needs a whack upside the head by a good editor. "Sunlight clattered off the statue's shoulders." "He was the janissary of a dead vernacular." "As the meeting went on, they turned on the gas jets, which hissed like mildly distraught cats." I mean, give me a break.”

• Rated 4 stars

“Very interesting book about the building of the World's Fair in chicago. At the same time, a murderer is killing newcomers to the city. The ferris wheel, Juicy Fruit gum and Cracker Jack all came about as part of the extravaganza.”

• Rated 3 stars

“Although I felt like it took forever to read this book, when I finished, I realized what an impact the people, places, and events that took place in it made. What surprises me, though, is that I had never heard of the fair or Mr. Holmes until reading this. I would recommend it, but wouldn't have minded an abridged edition.”

• Rated 3 stars

“Serial killer during the building of the Chicago White City World Exhibition”

• Rated 4 stars

“I really enjoyed this book about a serial killer during Chicago's World's Fair. ”

• Rated 3 stars

“Good non-fiction but was at times hard to follow and slow. Would have been good to follow one or two characters (Holmes & Olmstead perhaps) instead of 10 or more. Interesting but whorthwhile even though it was slow.”

• Rated 5 stars

“One of the most fantastic books I've ever read. Brilliant research and writing. Very, very informative.”

• Rated 3 stars

“intriguing tale of Chicago world's fair in late 1800's. Interesting intermingling of the Fair's architect, the politics, and the contemporary serial killer, H. H. Holmes, who was active during the time before, during and after the fair. Great view of the US at that time period. Little gruesome at times.”