Rating: 
Summary: The Devil is in the Details
Review: It's a historic page turner centered around the fantastic effort to build the World's Columbian Exhibition of 1893 and the galling actions of a suave grisly hunter of vulnerable souls. It's a confidently paced story, slowly revealing the whole picture as time unravels it, from two distinct points of view. Suspense, horror, adventure, and worldly beauty all swap in the stew. Larson lovingly leaves what you think you may know unsaid, then returns to verify it in later pages.
It's truly hard to believe this all really happened. Burnham, the architect who mustered "the greatest non-military operation in our nation's history" against the forces of Chicago's City Hall, unionization, economic depression, fire, Mother Nature, and time. Larson's narrative slows down to include love letters from wives who have been forced to the sidelines out of the necessity and enormity of the challenges these people faced. Our ancestors sure had grit. This book opens their 1890s lives to us. The sections on HH Holmes are boldly mesmerizing. I'd never heard of HHH before but his notoriety is assured after this book. This character reminded me of the cad in the old Alec Guinness vehicle "Kind Hearts and Coronets". Erik Larson seems to revel in digging up citations from rare books libraries as much as his real world detectives like Philadelphia's Geyer, like to unearth clues. His notes chapter at the end is a real plus. I also loved Isaac's Storm.
Rating: 
Summary: Most interesting history well told
Review: Erik Larson's well-written book has many interesting details on the Chicago World's Fair the "White City" and he contrasts it well with a strange murderer, H. H. Holmes. The book is, should I dare say, great fun and very interesting. It is full of amazing research and interesting facts, and a whose's who of the personalities of the era. I recommend this book to you as I do Mr. Larson's earlier book, Isaac's Storm.
Rating:
Summary: Super duper read
Review: And we think we live in a time of serial killers. H H Holmes could certainly teach us a few twists on stalking, killing and disposing of the victims of a wanton murderer.
This is a wonderful book with generally alternating chapters on Holmse, a deranged killer and Daniel Hudson Burnham, an architect and general magician who managed to pull together the
White City on a mere two year schedule. Burnham also brought the talents of other well know civil designers such as Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim and Louis Sullivan.
Burnham and Holmes were personable, good looking men, and each were among the best at what they did. Holmes managed to kill close to 200 people, mostly women, and dispose of their bodies right under the noses of authorities. Burnham became even more famous after building the Flatiron Building.
This is also a good examination of life at the turn of the last century and how Americans love a big show.
A wonderful book that will take you no time to page through.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautifully Constructed Patchwork
Review: If you read "Isaac's Storm," you have some idea of Mr. Larson's writing ability. Still, that book did not prepare me for this experience. With "The Devil In The White City" the author has moved the bar up a notch. He has several major themes and a few minor ones and he succeeds in meshing everything together seamlessly. First, we have the story of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. Mr. Larson gives us the background, explaining the competition between various American cities that lobbied Congress for the right to hold the fair. New York, Chicago, Washington D.C. and St. Louis all wanted the fair. (The pressure was on to outdo the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889.) The "upper-crust" of Chicago was especially anxious to prove to New York City that Chicago was much more than a place where animals were slaughtered and butchered. They wanted to demonstrate that Chicago had "class" and culture. Once Chicago won the competition to hold the fair, the race was on to design something spectacular and to get it built by the deadline that had been set. Mr. Larson introduces us to Daniel Burnham, the fair's director of works, and brings us into the offices of Burnham and the other architects and details the difficulties involved in getting such a diverse group of people, some with very large egos, to cooperate with one another. The author provides crisp character studies of Burnham, his partner John Root, Louis Sullivan and other famous architects, as well as Frederick Law Olmsted, who was eventually convinced to come on-board, despite being around 70 years old, to do the landscape architecture. Mr. Larson explains the physical details of putting the fair together and the bureaucratic jungle that Burnham had to hack his way through in order to accomplish his goal. The author tells us about some of the products that were introduced or popularized at the fair, such as Juicy Fruit gum, Cracker Jack, Aunt Jemima's pancake mix and Shredded Wheat ("shredded doormat, some called it). One of the many things Burnham had to worry about was to come up with something to "out-Eiffel, Eiffel" as Gustave Eiffel's tower had amazed the world when it was "unveiled" in Paris in 1889. Mr. Larson has a lot of fun with some of the crackpot ideas that were suggested to Burnham....one of which was to build a complex set of towers-within-towers, which could be telescoped to expand and contract at will. The inventor suggested putting a restaurant at the top but, Mr. Larson writes, "... possibly a bordello would have been more apt." As you can see, the story of the fair could easily have been a subject for an entire book, but Mr. Larson chose to also tell the story of Henry Holmes, the charming serial killer who operated just outside the confines of the fair. Details of his background are provided, and we are brought deep into his hellish world and are shown how he enchanted, killed and disposed of his victims...who were usually young women, but also included small children. Holmes had big, blue eyes and when talking to women he would always maintain eye contact and appear to be fascinated by what they were telling him. He would establish intimacy by touching them on the arm. But he also had a personality that could win over men, as well as women. He was cultured and soft-spoken and never lost his temper, even when under extreme pressure. He was a gifted liar. In addition to his "skills" as a killer, he was able to buy things without paying for them....managing to put creditors off for months and years because they not only believed his lies, but also just couldn't help liking him. Again, Mr. Larson manages to flesh out this portion of the book by bringing some of Holmes's victims to life for us...they are more than just caricatures. The author did a lot of legwork and dug deeply into the primary sources. Extracts from numerous personal letters are provided and people who were later interviewed by newspaper reporters and detectives are quoted. This brings such an intensity to the book that we are happy to have the story of the fair in counterpoint. We are allowed to "come up for air" in alternating chapters. Too much of Holmes at one time would be too much to handle. Finally, if you read "Isaac's Storm" you know that Mr. Larson has a true storyteller's gift. His prose is richly descriptive. One of my favorite sections in the book is where Mr. Larson writes about a meeting of architects in an office building known as the Rookery: "As the light began to fade, the architects lit the library's gas jets, which hissed like mildly perturbed cats. From the street below, the top floor of the Rookery seemed aflame with the shifting light of the jets and the fire in the great hearth." I love the imagery, and the use of the word "mildly" is a great touch. With "The Devil In The White City" you get two great tales, written with beautiful attention to physical detail and with the subtle and nuanced psychological portraits usually found in really fine fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Great Balance of History and Murder
Review: This book was a fascinating read and I could not believe it was Real. The author did a great job of intertwining these two stories even though they had little in common except for the worlds fair backdrop. The story about Holmes was chilling and mysterious and kept me reading for hours until I finished it. Also, the story about Burnham and how he overcame tradegy and obstacles to create the fair was also great. Overall, this a great read for history buffs and also for the person seeking mystery and suspence.
Rating:
Summary: Devil in the Writing
Review: A recent trend in books as of late is explaining long forgotten historical importances to enquiring minds today. Many of these books are as dry as a bone, as the authors tell the stories, but fail to bring them alive. Erik Larson has no such problem with his brilliant new book, "Devil in the White City". Starting with the can't-put-down "Isaac's Storm", Larson masterfully handles his intergration of historical fact with a blend of fiction-like writing that is exceptionally compelling. Somehow Larson manages to get underneath the facts of a story, to tell the real stories behind it. By focusing on a few important characters, and making them come alive, his subject matter sparkles with a brilliant life of its own, and in this case, it's the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. Who knew of this world of wonders near the turn of the twentieth century? It certainly had escaped my notice before. Larson resurrects this forgotten dreampark to exlploration, discovery, and steel exceptionally well. Telling the story of the park through the lead designer, Daniel Burnham, is telling the story of male pompousity yet genius during the Gilded Age. As Burnham struggles to envision and build this glorious park, you see everything so clearly. During Larson descriptions, you actually see Jackson Park, you see the buildings constructed, you see the problems as they happen. It simply shines as bright as the White City itself. But, as everything is good, Larson brilliantly chooses to mix in a thriller of a sorts, by spinning the tale of another man, H H. Holmes, a notorious man with exceptionally blue eyes as is frequently pointed out. He is ruthless, vile, but everso charming. A long forgotten criminal has now been resurrected, and he is ever bit as chilling and heartless as any criminal we know today. To intermix the enlightenment, gaity, and forward looking fair with the mind of a murderer makes for an extremely compelling read. Just as one story gets good, Larson leaves you hanging to pick up the second story. This back and forth motion moves the story on a fast, but attention grabbing pace. It is extremely hard to put down this book, and only exhaustion allowed me to do so. This is one of the best books I've read in a long time, and I cannot highly recommend this story enough. If you dare, you will be finding yourself recommending it to your friends, strangers on the street, or anyone within earshot. It's simply that good.
Rating:
Summary: a fascinating story well told.
Review: Erik Larson has a knack for coming up with great ideas and then executing them masterfully. I'm not sure this top's Isaac's Storm, his last gem, for sheer interest, but it comes awfully close. The 1893 World's Fair was one of the seminal events ever held in this country and to have a mass murderer like the mad Mr. Holmes running around its edges provides -- in the hands of a master like Larson -- page-turning suspense and interest. The men who staged the fair are important historical figures most Americans never heard of and Larson writes about them with great skill and appreciation. I loved this book and can't wait for Larson's next effort.
Rating:
Summary: Chilling Americana
Review: An interesting look at one of the most fascinating and mysterious serial killers, put into the context of an intriguing juncture in our nation's history. I have to say, though, that anyone interested in the crimes of H.H. Holmes should read "Depraved" by Harold Schechter, the definitive work on the subject.
Rating:
Summary: Gave me the creeps
Review: I lived, a few years ago, in the South side of Chicago, while I was going to school, a few blocks from the Museum of Science and Industry. I was intrigued, therefore, by this remarkable account of a history the area had, of which I was totally unaware. I must say that I bought this book with expectations that I thought were inflated, after having read some of the reviews in this site. Happily, I was not disappointed. Fin de siecle America has always had a fascination for me, and this book explores its excesses and darkness in a way that no other has, in my recollection. As I am sure you are aware, it tells the parallel and converging stories of the World Fair held in Chicago during the presidency of Grover Cleveland, and that of Dr. H. H. Holmes, our first serial killer. We see an America that is on the one hand naive, and on the other already overbloated and self-possessed. Somehow this first fantasy theme park is the perfect vehicle for the appearance of our first sociopath, as though he was to be conceived and born by a concert of forces that was to also spawn an America ready to become the imperialist titan that T. Roosevelt was to make it a few years later. That a cold-blooded killer could walk undetected and unimpeded there is at once amazing and on the other not surprising, as anonymity and identity were already lost in faceless urban America. It is in some way, premonitory. This is historical fiction that is at once well-structured and paced. It is a fascinating read, that could well have been novelized. Gratefully it was not. Read it, and I am sure that it will change the way you feel about Cracker Jacks, Ferris Wheels and Juicy Fruit gum. I can anticipate that the picture rights have already been sold, but I sincerely suggest that you read it now, before the movie ruins it for you.
Rating:
Summary: Good but stop and start stories don't jell
Review: Describing the Columbian Fair would have been monumental in its own right. To add a serial killer to the mix, that was icing on the cake.
The problem is that I felt the icing was just that. Both stories were compelling on their own. Putting them together, a little overwhelming. I was very pleased with the coverage of the Fair and the herculean efforts to bring it to fruition. I was hanging with the Holmes parts until the last part when it seemed as though Larson rushed through the details of Holmes crimes. I was left wanting to know more about Holmes and the trial and Pinkerton's investigation.
The book is well researched and written well but hurriedly brought to conclusion.
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