The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
by Erik Larson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Erik LarsonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2004-02-10
ISBN: 0375725601
Number of pages: 447
Publisher: Vintage
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780375725609
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Book Reviews of The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
Book Review: The devil in the details
Summary: 5 Stars
One of my childhood memories from the mid-sixties is visiting the New York World's Fair with my family. By all accounts, that fair was pretty tame and unimaginative, but to my young eyes it seemed a wonderful and marvelous creation. While the world as a whole may have been largely unimpressed with the 1964 New York World's Fair, there was more than enough wonder and amazement to go around when the astounding "White City", known as the Columbian Exposition, in honor of the 400'th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of America, opened in Chicago in 1893.
The Devil In the White City by Erik Larson is a fascinating book about the very best and the very worst of mankind, with the Columbian Exposition being the focal point. Americans were apparently quite annoyed that France had delighted the world with the creation of the Eiffel Tower for the World's Fair held in Paris in 1889. What, wondered American architects, engineers, and entrepreneurs could America do to top that? And which American city would get the chance to show those arrogant Frenchmen how superior America was? Sophisticated, savvy New York or bold, brash Chicago?
While some of the country's best minds were wrangling with these questions, one of the country's most evil minds was planning a quite different course of events to be centered around the Columbian Exposition. Though it is little known today, it is a fact that the Columbian Exposition was the site of a series of immensely brutal murders, carefully conceived and carried out by an outwardly most appealing and credible young man named H.H. Holmes (one of several aliases). With devilish attention to the details, Holmes saw limitless opportunity to prey upon the thousands of naive young women drawn to Chicago by the enticement of the coming world's fair. By the time the Exposition had ended, six months after its official opening, scores of innocent victims had been ensnared and destroyed by Holmes.
As contrast to this remorseless killer, the book presents the ambitious, civic- minded story of one of America's premier architects, Daniel H. Burnham, known as the creator of the Flat Iron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, DC. As Director of Works for the Exposition, Burnham had the daunting task of not only selecting all the principal architects, engineers, and artists for the project, but of keeping them working harmoniously together. Added to this Herculean task was the seemingly impossible one of creating a full-sized city of unsurpassed beauty in less than two years on wasteland that could not normally support even a shantytown, let alone a magic city through which more than 700,000 pleasure seekers a day were expected to pass.
With meticulous detail that never is for a moment excessive or tedious, author Erik Larson draws us deeply into the labyrinthine plans and problems of building the White City, brick by brick. At the same time he keeps us horrifically spellbound as he uncovers, step by step, the maniacal plans of the serial killer. By the end of this book we know more than we ever thought we could about how to build a world class exposition amid the shifting sands of politics and professional egos; while gaining unnerving insight into the pathological thoughts of an unrepentant killer. We also learn what the Americans finally invented to rival the Eiffel Tower. (I won't tell you; you must read the book to find out!)
"I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing," whined H.H. Holmes in his signed confession in 1896.
"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood", exhorted Burnham to his fellow architects as he launched the Exposition.
The two quotes show perhaps better than anything else what type of men Holmes and Burnham were; why one will always be remembered with abhorrence and the other with admiration. Read The Devil in the White City to see how both men fulfilled their destinies in the glittering, greedy times known as America's Gilded Age.
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Summary of The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men--the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America's place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that The Devil in the White City is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison. The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims. Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing. --John Moe
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