Scan barcode
juliereading's review against another edition
4.0
I am not much of a nonfiction gal. If it's true it really has to be written well and told as if it's not. I want humor or suspense or something else to work with. Or it has to be about something really inherently fascinating. I love history, but when it comes to reading a nonfiction book I justzzzz...
This definitely was two fascinating stories (which were made into one by the skill of this book) and delivered the suspense.
Bonus: it was full of facts about the Chicago World's Fair that I never knew and impressed my friends (Pabst's Blue Ribbon? Ferris Wheel?)
I may have enjoyed this book more because I'm fairly convinced that Chicago is the best city in the USA (food, parks, library, art, universities, history, food, baseball, it goes on). To say this book is about H. H. Holmes or the World's Fair is to miss another important piece - it's about turn of the century Chicago.
Devil in the White City is told from two very different, yet both very driven, men's perspectives: the head architect of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the serial killer right across the street. It alternates between those voices, which kept me completely wrapped up in both stories and made for a really haunting result. The triumph of the Chicago World's Fair made my heart burst with pride in turn-of-the-century America and my skin crawl with the revelation of the horror in such close proximity.
I read some other reviews after starting this one and wanted to mention that, though the blatant connections between the two stories are certainly thin, it's perfect. The fair is this amazing place that, against all odds, is a point of pride for the country and people are flocking to Chicago... and little do they know... And isn't that such a perfect urban dilemma? The opportunity and the horizons to be broadened v. the danger and the dirtiness. It's about an incredible, brief moment in history when so much is going on. But that leads me to think, maybe it's not that incredible, maybe these kinds of almost parallel universes exist everywhere all the time.
Great book.
This definitely was two fascinating stories (which were made into one by the skill of this book) and delivered the suspense.
Bonus: it was full of facts about the Chicago World's Fair that I never knew and impressed my friends (Pabst's Blue Ribbon? Ferris Wheel?)
I may have enjoyed this book more because I'm fairly convinced that Chicago is the best city in the USA (food, parks, library, art, universities, history, food, baseball, it goes on). To say this book is about H. H. Holmes or the World's Fair is to miss another important piece - it's about turn of the century Chicago.
Devil in the White City is told from two very different, yet both very driven, men's perspectives: the head architect of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the serial killer right across the street. It alternates between those voices, which kept me completely wrapped up in both stories and made for a really haunting result. The triumph of the Chicago World's Fair made my heart burst with pride in turn-of-the-century America and my skin crawl with the revelation of the horror in such close proximity.
I read some other reviews after starting this one and wanted to mention that, though the blatant connections between the two stories are certainly thin, it's perfect. The fair is this amazing place that, against all odds, is a point of pride for the country and people are flocking to Chicago... and little do they know... And isn't that such a perfect urban dilemma? The opportunity and the horizons to be broadened v. the danger and the dirtiness. It's about an incredible, brief moment in history when so much is going on. But that leads me to think, maybe it's not that incredible, maybe these kinds of almost parallel universes exist everywhere all the time.
Great book.
chelsayoder's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this. For a work of nonfiction I couldn't put it down after the first couple of chapter which I think it pretty awesome. I really neglected chores and work because of this I think!
I liked the bouncing from stories and the way they all had a common component.
I really want to visit Chicago now and see what remains.
I liked the bouncing from stories and the way they all had a common component.
I really want to visit Chicago now and see what remains.
queenjuly's review against another edition
Will come back to this, I need to fall in love with reading again first
mkepper's review against another edition
4.0
I’d never heard of the 1893 world’s fair before reading this. All the people/things that contributed and came from it is crazy… learning about all the lives taken (and the way they were) by Holmes was upsetting. What he did to those kids…
I did love the Helen Keller and Buffalo Bill link up
4.5/5 stars
I did love the Helen Keller and Buffalo Bill link up
4.5/5 stars
bhalstead04's review against another edition
4.0
This is a very long read. Very technical but also a great story. This would make a great movie!
It's had to believe that this actually happened.
It's had to believe that this actually happened.
mchester24's review against another edition
4.0
I debated whether to give 4 stars or 5 stars, mainly because this book really is two different books in one. While they tell two stories that are going on at the same time (the build up to and finish of the World's Fair in Chicago along with the murderous life of H.H. Holmes), they failed to come together to make one cohesive story to me. I was definitely more interested in the chapters of the book about Holmes and would have probably given the story of his evil deceits and murders five stars, but they were always seemingly sandwiched between the longer and a bit slower chapters about the fair (though, to be fair, I ended up enjoying the 'book' about the fair more than I would have anticipated).
I wish the two stories came together more cohesively and satisfyingly in the end. What tied them together was the city of Chicago in the late 19th century, and the city itself (as cliche as it feels to say) was a character all its own in this book-- prominent in each half of the book. I really felt like I got to know and understand the mentality and spirit of Chicago during these years-- a city that was proud of what it had achieved and could achieve but always felt like the little brother on the world's stage; a city determined to show just how cosmopolitan and elite it could be, even still in the recovery of the Great Fire and with a corrupt and crime-ridden atmosphere.
The story of the fair, like I said, was more compelling than I would have initially thought. If the book was just about the fair and didn't splice in the juicy and vulgar story of Holmes, I probably wouldn't have picked it up to begin with. But because I did, it was compelling to learn about just how much of 20th century America's tent poles can trace their way back to the fair, or at least are tangentially touched by the fair-- things like the first Ferris Wheel, the future vision of the Disney family, the incandescent light bulb, decades of American architecture and public parks, the Titanic, Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, Frank Lloyd Wright, the pledge of allegiance, modern labor laws, Columbus Day, the first zipper, Aunt Jemima's brand, PBR, Dewey Decimal System, the electric chair, braille (and Hellen Keller encountering it), L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz, and more.
The story of Holmes is, to say the least, chilling. But it's the story of a sociopath that proves the archetype for all fictional serial killers you see in media-- charming, unfeeling, uncaught in his own lies, unflappable, gruesome, devious, alluring. The idea that someone could be killing people for no other motive other than the power to know they could and the satisfaction that could bring was unheared of at that time, which made the hunt for the killer of all these missing women even more compelling at the time. It's no wonder it made front page news all the time, a fact that no doubt fed into Holmes' self image as an all powerful God or, more accurately, the devil himself.
I wish the two stories came together more cohesively and satisfyingly in the end. What tied them together was the city of Chicago in the late 19th century, and the city itself (as cliche as it feels to say) was a character all its own in this book-- prominent in each half of the book. I really felt like I got to know and understand the mentality and spirit of Chicago during these years-- a city that was proud of what it had achieved and could achieve but always felt like the little brother on the world's stage; a city determined to show just how cosmopolitan and elite it could be, even still in the recovery of the Great Fire and with a corrupt and crime-ridden atmosphere.
The story of the fair, like I said, was more compelling than I would have initially thought. If the book was just about the fair and didn't splice in the juicy and vulgar story of Holmes, I probably wouldn't have picked it up to begin with. But because I did, it was compelling to learn about just how much of 20th century America's tent poles can trace their way back to the fair, or at least are tangentially touched by the fair-- things like the first Ferris Wheel, the future vision of the Disney family, the incandescent light bulb, decades of American architecture and public parks, the Titanic, Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, Frank Lloyd Wright, the pledge of allegiance, modern labor laws, Columbus Day, the first zipper, Aunt Jemima's brand, PBR, Dewey Decimal System, the electric chair, braille (and Hellen Keller encountering it), L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz, and more.
The story of Holmes is, to say the least, chilling. But it's the story of a sociopath that proves the archetype for all fictional serial killers you see in media-- charming, unfeeling, uncaught in his own lies, unflappable, gruesome, devious, alluring. The idea that someone could be killing people for no other motive other than the power to know they could and the satisfaction that could bring was unheared of at that time, which made the hunt for the killer of all these missing women even more compelling at the time. It's no wonder it made front page news all the time, a fact that no doubt fed into Holmes' self image as an all powerful God or, more accurately, the devil himself.
oliviahewitt's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 rounded to 4! A well written book and absolutely fascinating stories. I do think the book was doing too much in certain moments. I think The Worlds Fair and the murder mystery at times felt a little disconnected and could have stood alone as separate texts. It was overall a solid read!