The Devil in the White City (edit title)

• Rated 3 stars

“This is an interesting story about the Chicago Worlds fair in the late 1800's . It actually seemed like 2 stories.. one about the architecture and the other about murders. ”

• Rated 5 stars

“This book has everything a TC reader will enjoy. The building of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, turn-of-the-century culture, the secrets of a serial killer doing his killing undetected by anyone, and a madman committing an assassin. All true, all documented. I could not put this book down....luckily my house didn't catch fire or I would not have noticed while reading this book!”

• Rated 4 stars

“Creepy and fascinating.”

• Rated 4 stars

“Terrific tale, part truth, part fiction. Story of Chicago World's Fair and a murderer.”

• Rated 5 stars

“This book is one of my absolute favorites, and I highly recommend it. The author does a great job of keeping you engaged and entertained by going between being a true crime novel and a historical non-fiction novel. Most of what is covered in the book is fact, which is a true testament to the author's research.”

• Rated 0 stars

“looking back into history of world's fair in Chicago, showing how much Daniel Burnham did for the city in preserving the lakefront for the future”

• Rated 3 stars

“Erik Larsen (Isaak's Storm) has combined two very different stories in his book. The stories both take place in Chicago, the Second City. One is the story of David Burnham and his ability to create the White City that was the key to the Worlds Fair in Chicago. He managed this success in a mere two years, dealing with problems ranging from arhcitectural challenges, weather extremes, personnel disputes and financial threats. He endured a series of personal challenges, ranging from moderate to severely challenging
The shadow story centers on H H Holmes, evil personified. H H Holmes was a very charismatic and manipulative man who murdered anywhere from 7 to 200 people, most of them young women. He used people as tools for two purposes, one was to amass financial means and the other was to indulge his passion for murder. Holmes, after figuring out how to obtain a drugstore throug hdeception and murder, buys a lot across the street and builds the "Castle" a boarding house targeted towards mainly young women coming to Chicago for the Worlds Fair. Holmes sees the potential both financially and as a source of potential victims, He builds a horror chamber of crematoriums, secret windowless rooms fitted with gas lines for asphixiation , doors that can only be opened by him, angled halls and stairways to nowhere. When a wife, lover , employee or aquaintance outlived their usefulness they silently disappear, murdered and disposed of.
The stories run side by side but do not actually intertwine. Burnhams story is about his passion for something positive to be pursued at all costs, each stumbling block placed in his path is turned aside for good. Holmes passion is inthe opposite direction, death and destruction for his own dark purpose, yet he pursues his passion with as much vigor and intensity.
The story of Holmes felt to me to be a penultimate evil and yet the reading seemed to lack the depth and graphic feel. Erik Larsen wrote that he turned to the Capote's book In Cold Blood to grasp the telling of evil. It seems, even with the given detail that a man this evil would have a grittier, darker telling that Larsen just did not achieve.

All that said this was an amazing tale of both the beautiful and the monstrous, creation and destruction. Erik Larsen shows two sides of an amazing period of time in Chicago's history. ”

• Rated 5 stars

“Book club selection - interesting story. I listed to the audio book since there were no copies at the library. Great for anyone who loves Chicago, architecture, pop culture or engineering.”

• Rated 5 stars

“Loved this book. Learned alot about the world's fair and the times. Very intriguing”

• Rated 3 stars

“Eh, don't know what to say about this book. Some parts were fascinating and creepy. A lot of it felt like fact spewing. I almost would have preferred it to have been a real novel--with dialogue and mysterious characters. As it was it made an exciting and intriguing topic rather bland.”