Rating: 
Summary: A Great Read during a Blizzard...
Review: I loved this book. I started Friday night before the snow started falling. Two days and 18 inches of the white stuff later, I finished this story. What a great read, and excuse to stay in by the fire.
Rating: 
Summary: The city is the star
Review: This is an engaging recreation of Chicago in the 1890s, with deftly interwoven mini-biographies of a handful of movers and shakers, some now venerated, some almost forgotten.It may seem an odd comparison, but in that respect this book reminded me of "Seabiscuit". (I wasn't particularly interested in horse racing or the architectural history of Chicago, but in both cases, the authors did such compelling research, I became engrossed.) I think the only readers who might be disappointed are those in search of a gory account of the crimes of Mudgett/Holmes. The hardcore true crime fans might prefer Harold Schechter's "Depraved" instead.
Rating:
Summary: can't put down
Review: a fantastic historical recounting of the great worlds fair in chicago in the late 1800's. and woven in is a truly chilling tale of one of the most nefarious serial killers in history. the book is extremely well written, with insight into the lives of many famous people of the times.
Rating:
Summary: Good Job
Review: A fun and very readable popular history! Readers should be aware, however, that the life of H.H. Holmes is covered much more extensively in Harold Schechter's true crime classic, DEPRAVED, which Larson cites as one of his main sources.
Rating:
Summary: Prepare to be mesmerized!
Review: Larson's book is a pure enjoyment--a historical journey into the history of Chicago, warts and all. The reader not only learns about Daniel Burnham's amazing feat pulling together the Columbia Exposition of 1893 and the ways it changed the nation, but he contrasts this event with America's first serial killer, ironically steps away from the fair. The reader is tugged from good to evil, from risk to murder, from heaven to hell. Enjoy the ride and thanks Mr. Larson for allowing us to take that ride!
Rating:
Summary: Unspeakable Wonders and Startling Evil
Review: Larson has created the first must-read nonfiction title of the year, an assured and satisfying work which vividly portrays the one of the last grand gasps of the nineteenth century, the World's Fair of 1893.
Daniel Hudson Burnham, architect and overseer of the fair, builds the White City itself, while Henry H. Holmes is the titular devil, a charismatic young doctor with blood-curdling obsessions. The British of the period may have dealt with Jack the Ripper, but our ever-expanding country weaned its own monster, whose house of horrors stood in the shadows of the great architectural triumphs of the Fair.
This compelling book moves with the relentlessness of the greatest novels of our time. The supporting cast includes such luminaries as Edison, Archduke Ferdinand, Buffalo Bill, and Susan B. Anthony; the ill-fated Titanic even makes an appearance in the books opening pages.
Larson's evocative prose fully engulfs the viewer in the period, and the dark and dreadful scenes with Henry H. Holmes are given welcome respite by the tales of Burnham's amazing accomplishment. The enjoyment of this stunning work is only heightened by the knowledge that the story is true.
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Summary: A devil of a good time
Review: The juxtapositions between horror and fun in this rollicking rollercoaster of a ride make this one of the most entertaining and yet informative books to ever get printed. I was reminded somewhat of the book RAGTIME in that this one mixes facts with fiction. But "THE DEVIL" is far more intense. The narrative takes place in the years between the Civil War and the turn of the century--that no man's land of problems and healing that is all but forgotten today. Larson gives us a wonderful portrait of the time, and, as the title says, "Murder, Magic, and Madness." This is just a remarkable read and should not be missed. Also would recommend another great Amazon book: BARK OF THE DOGWOOD by Jackson McCrae.
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Summary: Chock full of history
Review: I wasn't seeking this book out to read. I was in N.C. visiting a friend when I saw it in his place. He briefly told me what the book was about, so I read the opening pages. And then more, and then more. Eventually I asked if I could take it home and finish it. Before this book I never knew how big that fair was. How many odds were against the architects, that the Ferris wheel was born there and it was HUGE. I didn't know that on one day over 700,000 people attended the fair and A.C. electricity was born there. I didn't know who H.H. Holmes was, nor what he did. And I never knew his body lies 15 minutes from my house.
Rating:
Summary: Jack the Ripper pales in comparison
Review: THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY is really two books in one. The "White City" is the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and it summarizes the trials the architects went through to get the fair ready in a short amount of time. We are introduced to the driving force, architect Daniel Hudson Burnham, to Frederick Law Olmsted (designer of Central Park in New York) the landscape artist, and to George Ferris, inventer of the Ferris Wheel, the centerpiece of the World Fair and Burnham's bid to outdo the Eiffel Tower. Ohmstead is probably the most interesting of these stalwarts in that I was not aware of what a tortured genius he was. He suffered from toothaches, depression, chronic insomnia and an almost pathological perfectionism. Erik Larson throws in the assassination of Mayor Carter Harrison and a scorned Buffalo Bill Cody to add a little flavor.
The "devil" in the title is Dr. Henry H. Holmes (real name Herman Mudgett) who built a hotel to lure unescorted young ladies during the fair and disposed of them by smothering them with chloroform or by gassing them. Because the police were so distracted by the fair, no one was really aware of what this fiend was doing, despite the many complaints lodged by relatives. It's a wonder Holmes isn't more well known. Jack the Ripper pales in comparison. Some estimates surmise that he murdered up to a hundred women and children.
This segment of the book really picks up steam when Detective Frank Geyer enters the picture and begins to track three of Holmes' youthful victims. Geyer was one of those plodding, relentless types who don't get much attention in American folklore, but they always get their man.
Holmes wrote a number of "biographies." There's a quote from him at the beginning: "I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than a poet can help the inspiration to sing." Holmes defines the word "psychopath" and seemed to murder for fun more than anything else.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I looked forward to reading this book both because it had such an intriguing premise and it won the Poe award last year. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.
The year 1893 was both a triumphant and tragic year for the city of Chicago. Daniel Burnham and his fellow architects put together a grand World's Fair despite numerous obstacles. Larson does a great job in describing the problems in organizing the fair including the economic difficulties, the feuding between architects, and especially the actual construction of the White City. The central character in this story is architect Daniel Burnham who toils for years in order to make sure Chicago pulls the fair off in grand style. Though Burnham is the primary subject, the secondary characters, including Louis Sullivan, Frederick Olmsted, Frank Lloyd Wright, and George Ferris, are what give body to the fair's history.
Larson alternates the chapters on the World's Fair with ones telling the parallel story of the evil Dr. H.H. Holmes. Dr. Holmes is probably the most twisted man I've ever read about. He succeeded in defrauding and murdering dozens of people in his eerie mansion adjacent to the fair and performed his activities like a consummate professional. How does a doctor turn into such a beast? Larson does a fine job in revealing the chronology of Dr. Holmes murder spree but does little in attempting to answer the previous question.
Both stories are told well, but Larson has essentially combined two separate books into one. The stories of the World's Fair and of Dr. Holmes did occur at the same time in the same city, but they are essentially separate tales. The book jacket implies that the two stories are integrated, but in fact, there is not much that links them. Dr. Holmes interaction with the fair was fairly limited. He took some of his victims there and housed many of its visitors in his hotel, but that is the extent of his involvement in the story of the fair.
This book does present an interesting history of Chicago in the late 1890's, but perhaps, I expected something more than the author offered.
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