Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely entertaining and enlightening
Review: I agree with previous reviewers that this book was difficult to put down, and the format of switching between the two stories simply built up the anticipation for the next installment. My great-grandfather packed up his family of 11 and traveled from southern Illinois to the Fair for the month of June, 1983 so I had a family interest in this story. After reading this book I re-read the family account of this trip published in a local newspaper (written many years after the trip) and discovered that the house they rented was also in the suburb of Englewood! If more historical accounts were written in this entertaining way there would be more reading of history.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Couldn't Put it Down!
Review: One of the best documentary books I have ever read. As many people have stated, if you didn't know it you would think it was a novel because of the detail of what people were thinking at the time. The story is about two main events heading towards collision. One is about the one man pulling out all stops to provide the best World's Fair to date, with limited time and a super long list of obstacles. The other is a serial killer who preys on young women. The killer sets himself up relatively close to the fair and looks forward to the influx of humanity that will come to the fair. The book is lush with a lot of facts about the builders of a lot of American landmarks such as Central Park and the Brooklyn Bridge. Also, a lot of interesting historical characters are part of the book. It is a time where people disappear all the time and the police are ill-equiped to do anything. The killer is able to set up shop, complete with a furnace for destroying "evidence." Also, the lack of cadavers for medical students' studies makes it quite easy to get rid of his victims remains with no questions asked. Mr. Larson obviously did an incredible amount of research to put together the detail of this book and does a great job of assembling it.
Rating: 
Summary: A picture would be worth a thousand words here
Review: There is so much potential in this author's material. These were such big events in American history and that they are almost completely forgotten is, in itself, remarkable. But I wish we could have seen more photographs than the paltry few the author has included. After all, photography was a flourishing new medium in those days. Undoubtedly there were many photos taken of the fair and possibly even Holmes himself. Copies of documents, signatures, blueprints, etc. would add to the "realness" of the story. In a work of nonfiction, it's quite surprising to find so little visual interest.
Rating: 
Summary: Power and beauty vs a mask of evil
Review: In 1889 there is intense competition for a world's fair celebrating Columbus Day, especially after the stunning success of the recent World Exposition in Paris, the Eiffel Tower its centerpiece. The American version is scheduled to debut in 1893; the bidding is fierce, especially the competition between Chicago and New York City and the stakes are tremendous. In a tense vote, Congress awards the opportunity of a lifetime to Chicago. The selected architects are faced with an almost insurmountable task, the foundations, the grounds, the venues and, most important, an attraction that will equal the Eiffel Tower in innovation and splendor. Daniel Burnham positions himself at the helm of this great enterprise, eventually wresting fiscal control and decision-making away from those with conflicting interests. Under the leadership of the firm of Burnham and Root, the most prominent Chicago architects gather to plan this massive undertaking.These men see Chicago as the most impressive and powerful city in America and Burnham is determined to see his vision for Chicago brought to life. To this end, Burnham engages the aid of his wealthy and accomplished cohorts, many of them captains of industry in this emerging city. The designing architects paint the buildings white, in a stroke of inspired genius, thus creating the mythological "White City", a jewel set into a harsh landscape, a place of wonder and imagination. Here a troubled population can forget their troubles. But, while the White City is under construction, heinous crimes occur with increasing frequency. In one of the first recorded cases of serial murder, consummate psychopath H.H. Holmes kills scores of unsuspecting young women. Holmes builds a residence-hotel, establishing himself as a businessman in Chicago, charmingly seducing his victims, many of them hired as assistants in his pharmacy or residents in his hotel. Holmes' crimes are finally uncovered after the closing of the World's Fair and people are sickened that such a monster could live in their midst, plucking victims from the naive tourists. Devil in the White City brilliantly contrasts the chasm between rich and poor, good and evil, providing this thoroughly researched work with fascinating details, especially the unremitting drive toward progress in Chicago, a definitive example of the American businessman amassing great wealth through monopoly and industrialization. This new century offers unparalleled opportunity for those in a position to avail themselves of such favorable circumstances; at the same time, the poor, uneducated and unemployed are crushed beneath the blind march of progress. Had the citizens of Chicago been gifted with precognition, they would have observed a future of unprecedented leaps in industrialization and the amassing of private fortunes, all of which eventually lead to the separation of economic, educational and social classes. Luan Gaines/2004.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent storytelling
Review: I generally abhor history - but someone recommended this book to me. It was so compelling I could not put it down. Larson flawlessly weaved the two stories together, demonstrating his incredible talent for storytelling. It is definately a great -and quick - read for someone who does not know a whole lot about the events of the fair, judging from some of the other reviews however, maybe not one for Chicago history buffs!
Rating:
Summary: Boring! And I live here
Review: The title is irresistable and because Chicago is my home, hey, even better. I read an excerpt in the paper about the Chicago World's Fair Expo and a serial killer in its midst -- seemed like a read I would not be able to put down. Well... the book stinks. I was quickly bored but hoping it would get better. Halfway through the book it wasn't getting better so I put it away in disgust. The book is really 2 stories that I'm guessing impact each other and merge at some point. I don't know I couldn't finish. It takes to long to get to that point where the stories are supposed to meld. It just gets so bogged down in the details on the Worlds Fair Expo and logistically how difficult it was to organize. Okay, we get it. How many pages must I read about this? I wanted to know more about evil Dr. Holmes. The expo should be the backdrop that you play against the main story (the main story I felt was that urban archetype - the serial killer). There was too much expo and not enough serial killer. I think Larson was a little short on material and filled his book with dry, architechtural details on the fair as well as delving into the boring characterizations of those who were responsible for organizing the fair. Great. Dullard WASPs who live on the Chicago's North Shore. They're the same then as they are now. Chicago is an fascinating city, with interesting characters. This book made this city seem dull and staid. I did get a bit of enjoyment reading the history of all the neighborhoods/streets I'm familiar with, but that's not enough. I want STORY. I was very unsatisfied with this and extremely disappointed. I cannot recommend this dry historical tome.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing - A soap-opera and not a history book!
Review: Being a Chicago resident, I had hoped this was a history book, but the author chose to write this in "soap opera" style. He tried to add allot of melodrama to the story, I guess to make it appealing to all readers, kind of like a Harliquin romance. If you are seeking some history on the politics involved in setting up the 1893 World Fair in Chicago, it is average. If you're seeking information about Dr. Holmes, this book is awful. "The Torture Doctor", bu David Franke, 1975, covers Dr. Holmes and his exploits in more detail. The author (or publisher) could have added to this book by including maps, diagrams, or pictures of the Fair, or Dr. Holmes house, but did not. The only "map" was a drawing of the Fair on the inside front and back cover, but it was only partial. As soon as I saw the author refer to 63rd St. as Sixty-Third street, I knew he'd likely never visited Chicago or the site of the Fair, and wrote this from some far-away place, using facts and visions from other books he's read to write his "story".
Rating:
Summary: well researched book, but falls short
Review: i really wanted to like this book. i enjoy Chicago history and serial killers have a bleak fascination. Larson has done a fine job with his research but ultimately i feel he falls short of his goal to combine the stories of Burnham and Holmes into a larger view of US culture in the late 1800s. the episodic nature of the writing is a plus in that it makes the book easy to pick up and put down, but it also inhibits building momentum to drive you to the next page. writers like Robert Caro (biography) or EL Doctrow (fiction) are the masters of presenting people in context of their times and having the cumulative interaction create yet another powerful level of knowledge and insight. i will look forward to Larson's future work. clearly he has the gift of a story teller and an eye for compelling non-fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Two stories for the price of three
Review: I jumped at reading this one, but the back-and-forth style, from Fair to killer, became numbingly predictable. I, too, could not put it down, however. It's a sword with two fairly sharp edges; the steel between the edges needs tempering. A more compelling weave would have done more justice to two surprisingly interesting stories. Both capture startling representations of turn-of-the-century America. A more compelling narrative style might have made this apparent. That's the third story here, and it's missing.
Rating: 
Summary: A Misrepresentation
Review: As I read this book, I could not help but feel that the author had done a great deal of research about the Chicago World's Fair, but felt it in itself wasn't interesting enough. So, he added a little spice -- what more appealing (in his eyes) than a serial killer who preyed on single women and children, coincidentally at the time of the Fair? My advice is if you want to read an in-depth (and I mean in-depth!) history of the Fair -- and one without too much literary merit at that --read this book, but skip over the chapters about the infamous H. H. Holmes. If you want to read about this serial killer, you can learn as much from a quick Internet search and won't have to scour the book to find the chapters that refer to him. This book smacks of sensationalism, as does so much of today's entertainment, and that's unfortunate.
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