Rating: 
Summary: Historic and Hitchcockian
Review: This is a dual tale. First Erik Larson gives us the fascinating story of the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893. This World's Fair was a demonstration that America, particularly Midwestern America, could compete successfully with the Old World. Larson describes the intricate planning and painstaking attention to detail that accompanied every day of the fair, and introduces us to the many personalities like Frederick Law Olmsted who made the fair a reality. Running alongside the story of the fair itself is the tale of a pyschopathic personality who imprisoned and murdered numerous young women and children while the fair was going on. The tale of this criminal's career and the steps taken to finally track him down and punish him is just as fascinating as the story of the fair itself. To sum up, this book's story of the Columbian Exposition is a wonderful history lesson. Its story of the psychotic murder is a tale worthy of Alfred Hitchcock himself. Such a combination is a rarity to be savored.
Rating:
Summary: an angel of a book!
Review: this book is one I plan to use as a monograph for teaching college US History. It's a real mirror of the times!
Rating: 
Summary: History Well Told Is Beautiful
Review: Countless books have been written on the Chicago's World's Fair of 1893, but few are written with such narrative and poise as Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City. The historically based tale of Chicago's lesser known serial killer is told as though a work of stellar fiction, and embodies the idea that yes, truth is stranger than fiction. Developed characters, problems, controversies and emotion sweep a story that has been overlooked until now. It uncovers a darker side of Chicago in the late 19th century and alters the pristine images of those historic years that forever changed the city. The book's lengthy bibliography demonstrates the research Larson used to convey the proud and stoic history of the fair and to uncover a disturbing Chicagoan who preyed upon the success of the fair. His research makes this book rich, colorful and even more chilling. In fact in his opening notes, Larson repeats to his readers, "However strange or macabre some of the following incidents may seem, this is not a work of fiction." The book follows two lead characters, the serial killer, H.H. Holmes and architect Daniel H. Burnam. Through Burman we learn the immense work, pressure, and anxiety that goes into the World's Fair. The details of planning a World's fair-and there are plenty-are fascinating because Larson forces us to care about these characters, their families and their careers. Reading about the fair over 100 years later, knowing that the fair does become a sensation, makes Burnam and his partners struggle to create a world's fair no less daunting. As we glimpse into the office meetings and to the mind's of some of the century's greatest architects and thinkers, we also are introduced to another side of humanity through the world of H.H. Holmes. A savvy and arduous gentleman, Holmes wins the hearts of those around him. He takes up with dozens of young women, many of whom came to Chicago for the brilliance of the fair. The disappearance of many of these women would remain unnoticed while the city soul focused on the fair. Devil in a White City delivers the reader a well-told story along with an understanding of how a fair was able to change America. History well told is beautiful, and thus too is Larson's book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, occasionally gruesome, non-fiction
Review: In the early years of the 1890s thousands of men labored feverishly, under an all-but-impossible deadline, to erect an ephemeral masterpiece, the Chicago World's Fair, which would be open to the public a scant six months, from May to October of 1893. Principal among those at work on the exposition was chief architect Daniel Hudson Burnham, who did a yeoman's job in overseeing the minutiae of the construction. Prominent also was the nitpicking landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead, who already had on his resume the design and construction of New York's Central Park. People flocked to Chicago while the Fair was being prepared: able-bodied men who were looking for sure work in a period of economic depression; young women leaving home for the first time to seek employment as secretaries or teachers. Chicago may have been a dangerous place--fires alone took a dozen lives a day in the city--and it was aesthetically unappetizing, "a world of clamor, smoke, and steam, refulgent with the scents of murdered cattle and pigs." But Chicago, particularly during the period of the Fair's construction, offered opportunity. One man, for example, the handsome and blue-eyed and oddly magnetic Mr. H.H. Holmes, discovered that the influx of young naifs to Chicago provided him with a surfeit of prospective "material." That is, with a great number of young women, newly uprooted from their families, renting rooms in the hotel he had constructed near the Fair grounds, it became a simple matter for Holmes to find women he could murder and either cremate in his home-made kiln or flay and have turned into articulated skeletons. Late-19th-century Chicago was indeed a place where dreams could come true. In The Devil in the White City, author Erik Larson weaves together the story of the Fair's construction and an account of Holmes's criminal career. (The man's villainy, though manifest throughout, becomes a visceral thing only near the book's end.) Both halves of the tale are fascinating. In addition to being (pleasantly?) repulsed by the grotesqueries detailed, readers will come away from the book having learned an enormous amount about the Fair and its background. (The mark the Fair left on American society is still in evidence: the Ferris Wheel and Shredded Wheat both had their start at the exposition; readers may not know that we also owe to the Fair that little ditty that's played as background music in movies with Middle Eastern snake-charming-type scenes.) My only criticism is that Larson sometimes provides too much detail. He thrice provides the menus of banquets attended by the principals, for example. Otherwise, a rewarding read.
Rating:
Summary: Non-Fiction Writing at its Best!
Review: As strictly a reader of mystery/suspense novels, I found that this non-fiction work by Erik Larson provides the best of mystery/suspense with a history lesson that is just as fascinating. The sheer scale and magnitude of the construction of the 1893 Columbian Exposition at Jackson Park are difficult to appreciate. Even with today's technology, engineering resources, equipment, and materials, completing the 1893 World's Fair in time would have been a daunting task; just ask the Athenians preparing for the 2004 Summer Olympics! The logistics of housing, transporting, and feeding tens of thousands of people a day; presenting live entertainment at a variety of venues; displaying international exhibits; etc. is described by Larson in a way that allows the reader to imagine the total experience. This could easily have been two terrific books, but interweaving the Worlds Fair epic with the gruesome tale of Chicago's more sinister version of Jack the Ripper made for wonderful reading. I only wished that the bad doctor was apprehended, tried, and executed in Chicago. As an occasional visitor to the "Windy City" I have more of an appreciation for Chicagoans and their city. Burnham's influence is still seen throughout downtown. If I were a Cub's fan, I would have renewed hope of finally winning the "Series"! Chicago has overcome some major odds throughout its history. Just as this book was recommended to me, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who just loves a good story.
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Summary: Good Non-Fiction
Review: Devil in the White City, an Awesome Read The Devil in the White City is a very great book. It has all of the elements of a great fiction novel . . . only, it's non-fiction. If you are interested in history, especially the Gilded Age this would be a great book for you. If you enjoy stories of true crime you would especially like this book.
One qualm I had with this book is the fact that it begins really slow. I bought this book because of the title and description, the book was actually a little rough to get into for me. I was hoping for immediate excitement and mayhem. What I got was a lot of history and not so much terror.
If you are going to get this book you should get it because you enjoy reading true history. If you are looking for a really exciting fast-paced novel this may not be the book for you. If you happen to be a history buff and would like to hear about how the Ferris Wheel was invented, and the trials and tribulations of getting the World's Fair of 1893 to become a reality, this is most definitely the book for you.
I have only read one other non-fiction book that came this close to being very entertaining, "Invitation to Valhalla" by Mike Whicker. This is an entertaining novel based is another mid-western city, Evansville, Indiana.
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Summary: the ferris wheel, incandescent lighting...
Review: the pledge of allegiance, shredded wheat and Americas first Serial Killer.
What do these things have in common???
You must read the book to find out. This is one of the best books I've ever read. Not a dull paragraph -- full of 'omigod' moments.
Erik Larson's writing style is only surpassed by his research style. An absolute 'must read'
Rating: 
Summary: Decidedly "Fair" book.
Review: Eric Larson is certainly an effective writer with a pechant for understatement in his recounting the evil deeds of the serial killer Herman Mudgett (Holmes). In fact the chapters concerning Holmes are quite involving and make for a creepy, compelling read. While the counterpoint of the impending World's Fair is an interesting idea, there is in fact no justifiable connection between the two other than the several hapless young women drawn to Chicago by the fair who meet their untimely ends at the hands of Holmes. Larson's step by step history of the Fair from it's inception as an idea through its' fruition and ultimate decline is admirable for its' scholarship and detail but is actually incredibly dull. I grappled with the "Fair" side of the story until I found that the "Holmes" story was far more compelling. Gradually I began skimming through the "Fair" chapters only to arrive at the next "Holmes" chapter until I was reading only the Holmes story. This wasn't difficult as the two stories occupy their separate and distinct chapters which in itself illustrates how little one story depends on the other. As a result once the "Fair" history peters out, we're left with a detective story that continues on it's own, creating a lopsided, uneven narrative. In a nutshell the writing for each respective story is well done but I suspect that the author made the World's Fair connection in an attempt to flesh out what might have been a brief but compelling murder story.
Rating:
Summary: An Entertaining and Informative Read
Review: Erik Larson does a bang-up job of conveying what life must have been like in the "Second City" as the 19th century drew to its fitful conclusion. Bristling at the constant reminder of New York City's superiority in so many areas, Chicago's city fathers rallied the troops and went all out in proving to New Yorkers, to the nation and to the world that Chicago was equal to the great challenge of mounting a World Exposition of truly monumental stature. Larson's descriptions of the Herculean effort put forth by numerous architects, builders, politicians, etc. lead the reader to a true appreciation of these "can do," spirited individuals. Yet beneath the teeming activity and a short distance away from the gleaming white Pleasure Palaces of the Fair, there stood a building of a different sort entirely, inhabited by one of the most vicious, truly evil creatures the young nation ever produced. Larson does an adequate, but not great job of telling the darker story surrounding H H Holmes, the mesmeric Svengali whose brilliant blue eyes and engaging charm seduced at least a score (one estimate was up to 200, which the author disputes) unfortunate women. Unlike Jack the Ripper, to whom he was later likened, he didn't limit himself to female victims. Business partners who had outworn their usefulness and several children were amongst his prey, as well. He just had a penchant for murder. The sections on the construction of the Columbia Exposition are filled with fascinating anecdotes, ranging from the origins of the sobriquet "windy city (derisively coined by Charles Anderson Dana, Editor of The New York Sun)" to the dramatic entrance of Annie Oakley, barreling in on horseback and blazing away with her two six-shooters in Buffalo Bill Cody's Western Show adjacent to the Fair Grounds. Larson also provides an interesting side story surrounding Patrick Predergast, a delusional political aspirant who turns assassin. He paints a compelling portrait of Fredrick Law Olmstead, American History's premier landscape architect who took up the almost impossible task of designing and overseeing the Exposition's parks and lagoons. The hero of the book, however, is Daniel Hudson Burnham, who was ultimately responsible for the lion's share of the planning, construction and smooth running of the entire enterprise. He had a little over two years from the time Congress selected Chicago from a list of candidate cities that included Saint Louis and New York, to the day of the Expo's official opening. That he got the job done within the alloted time is one of the great marvels in an age of marvels, especially given the myriad difficulties which he and his crew had to overcome. The Holmes narractive appears a bit lackluster in comparison to the story of the Fair's construction. Larson acknowledges the difficulty he faced in recreating Holmes' vicious crimes via imaginary vignettes. He states in an afterword that he went back and read Capote's IN COLD BLOOD for the technique in which Capote so brilliantly engaged in his imaginative reconstruction of events. The only problem with this approach is that Capote had access to and the confidence of the two killers that are at the center of IN COLD BLOOD. Larson had only newspaper accounts from the period as well as a very unreliable journal that Holmes wrote after he was tried and sentenced to death (he was hanged several months after the trial). It would appear that Larson goes a bit too far out of his way to avoid the lurid and sensationalitic aspects of Holmes' killing spree. One has only to visit some of the numerous web sites devoted to Holmes to see that Larson is particularly reticent to discuss Holmes' sexual deviance. This is understandable, as Larson wants to be taken seriously as an historian, yet the facts are out there (most of them well documented) so it wouldn't have hurt to have included a bit more of the darker details. The book could also have used more illustrations. The Chicago Tribune, at the time the story first broke in 1894, included a detailed floor plan of the "Chamber of Horrors" Holmes built on the corner of Sixty-Third and Wallace in the Englewood section of Chicago. That illustration would have given the reader a better sense of the bizarre layout of the structure. More pictures of the Exposition would have also been helpful. Here again, there are several sites on the web devoted to the Columbia Exposition that have many pages of great photographs. The books virtues far outweigh its shortcomings and I have no problem in recommending THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY to anyone interested in US History, Chicago Architecture, or just a well told story. BEK
Rating:
Summary: Erik Larson ROCKS
Review: I mean it! I have read this book twice now, and both times, I found it just fascinating to consider the two blue-eyed geniuses that Larson uses as the center of this non-fiction book that reads like historical fiction. I am so impressed with Larson's journalist's flair for telling a story that is the truth, for weaving the human part of history into the revelation of events long since ended. It is amazing to learn about the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and to feel as if you know Daniel Hudson Burnham personally. It is amazing to realize the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan and the transformation that these architects were able to pull off for a show of only six months duration. I feel as if I have lived in Chicago and its environs of 1893 and marveled at The White City in a truly reverent manner, as I have learned the overwhelming details of its conception, installation and reign. Just as mesmerizing as the fair, with its high ideals, magic and majesty, the blue-eyed devil that is H. H. Holmes fascinates me with his amoral serial evil. (And we think horror only occurs in these "end of times" days of the 21st Century.) Larson's juxtapositioning of the two stories: Burnham and the Fair's with Holmes and his dementia, makes it evident that as mankind creates, he also destroys, for good and for evil, and that there is a replication of such deeds throughout man's existence on earth. I was fascinated by Larson's online interview's on the Powell's Books website and through other Google sources. And I was delighted to unearth great pictures from the time of the Fair/Columbia Exposition online as well. Then I ventured to the online pages about Daniel Burnham. Just wonderful extension's of Larson's excellent book! I loved "Isaac's Storm" by Larson, and want to find his other books and read them as well. He is obviously an avid researcher and lover of what is stranger than fiction: TRUTH.
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