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9.36k reviews for:
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
Erik Larson
3.87 AVERAGE
9.36k reviews for:
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
Erik Larson
3.87 AVERAGE
dark
informative
slow-paced
I found myself skipping the chapters on the construction of the fair entirely. I realize they padded the book, but I couldn't make myself slog through them anymore. However, the chapters about H. H. Holmes were captivating.
dark
tense
slow-paced
medium-paced
one of the more digestible non-fiction books i have read despite its abundance of facts. it's so cool to see how much impact the fair had afterwards. larson did a great job dropping a seed then presenting a full grown tree with the revelations made because i began to anticipate how the loose ends would come together. my only qualm was the lack of pictures (don't roll your eyes at me), but i didn't mind looking up the buildings he referenced. oh to have witnessed the world's colombian exposition (fuck columbus tho)
I couldn't get into this book. One day I'll finish it...
Having recently finished up [b:Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing That Divided Gilded Age America|171634|Death in the Haymarket A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing That Divided Gilded Age America|James R. Green|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320540888s/171634.jpg|618591], and previously having read [b:The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City|110880|The Plan of Chicago Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City|Carl Smith|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328872809s/110880.jpg|106816], I felt like I had a good grasp on both the Chicago of the late 19th century, and of the life of architect Daniel Burnham. Larson plots Burnham's arduous task of creating the World's Columbian Exposition, a massive world's fair in Chicago's Jackson Park. Sharing the space of Burnham's story is that of serial murderer H.H.Holmes, who used the fair's boost in tourism to attract victims to his specially constructed hotel. Interspersed within the two major narratives are asides and tidbits of an historical nature, often interjected with little regard for their narrative worth.
The book is much more Burnham than Holmes, no doubt because there is a wealth of material to use about the World's Fair, but not nearly as much chronicling Holmes' life. Larson does a great job of using quotes from Burnham's letters, and the letters and speeches of his contemporaries, to inject the real voices of the characters into the narrative. Unfortunately, it is not all the time that Larson cares for historical detail; he has no trouble penciling in speculation in the hopes of creating a compelling read. Such liberty with factual particulars often gets him nowhere, as the sections on Holmes, while of such graphic nature in content, read with all of the mystery and macabre of an episode of Scooby-Doo. Larson only hits his stride when recounting the investigation into Holmes' murders, and this is probably because he had more material to draw from.
The real problem is that the book is structurally malformed. What do H.H.Holmes and Daniel Burnham have to do with one another? Nothing. I guess Holmes did attend the fair at some time, but so what? Everyone did. The people just happened to live at the same time in the same city, and Larson could have chosen any two people to write about. The two stories don't even share any thematic or metaphorical overlap; they are nearly wholly separate. At least it is well researched, even if the research is ornamented with Larson's fictive embellishments. I would recommend a more traditional history.
The book is much more Burnham than Holmes, no doubt because there is a wealth of material to use about the World's Fair, but not nearly as much chronicling Holmes' life. Larson does a great job of using quotes from Burnham's letters, and the letters and speeches of his contemporaries, to inject the real voices of the characters into the narrative. Unfortunately, it is not all the time that Larson cares for historical detail; he has no trouble penciling in speculation in the hopes of creating a compelling read. Such liberty with factual particulars often gets him nowhere, as the sections on Holmes, while of such graphic nature in content, read with all of the mystery and macabre of an episode of Scooby-Doo. Larson only hits his stride when recounting the investigation into Holmes' murders, and this is probably because he had more material to draw from.
The real problem is that the book is structurally malformed. What do H.H.Holmes and Daniel Burnham have to do with one another? Nothing. I guess Holmes did attend the fair at some time, but so what? Everyone did. The people just happened to live at the same time in the same city, and Larson could have chosen any two people to write about. The two stories don't even share any thematic or metaphorical overlap; they are nearly wholly separate. At least it is well researched, even if the research is ornamented with Larson's fictive embellishments. I would recommend a more traditional history.
This book started out really slowly for me, but it was accounting events in history. It isn't my usual type of book to read, and I never really poured through history books in school, either. Once I got past the beginning, though, Larson really did a good job of fleshing out the key players in the story. This book was packed with interesting facts about products and inventions that came about during the time period. I felt like I learned so much while reading this book, and I was eager to share with anyone near me what I was learning.
I found myself routing for the architects and all the workers who took on such great feats to create such a magical world's fair in such a short amount of time. At the same time, I was wishing that someone would stop the evil Dr. Holmes. Toward the end of the book, I was feeling discouraged on both points, but I’m glad I kept reading.
While I love a good crime drama, this was extra creepy since the events actually happened. It left me feeling so grateful for modern forensics! Larson doesn’t go into a lot of gory detail about the killings, although he does describe the feelings of the victims in some situations and in what condition the bodies were found. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to learn about history or the private dealings of a murderer. As long as you don’t let your imagination run wild and terrify yourself, you should be okay.
I found myself routing for the architects and all the workers who took on such great feats to create such a magical world's fair in such a short amount of time. At the same time, I was wishing that someone would stop the evil Dr. Holmes. Toward the end of the book, I was feeling discouraged on both points, but I’m glad I kept reading.
While I love a good crime drama, this was extra creepy since the events actually happened. It left me feeling so grateful for modern forensics! Larson doesn’t go into a lot of gory detail about the killings, although he does describe the feelings of the victims in some situations and in what condition the bodies were found. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to learn about history or the private dealings of a murderer. As long as you don’t let your imagination run wild and terrify yourself, you should be okay.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Read for FM book club
adventurous
informative
fast-paced
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced