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A review by midici
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson
4.0
This book was a fascinating nonfiction account of two parallel events: the creation and execution of the 1893 Chicago World Fair, and the serial killer commonly known as H. Holmes, who used the circumstances around the fair to lure women to his hotel and murder them.
The importance of the fair, how it came to be built in Chicago, the challenges of funding and creating the buildings and fairgrounds, the incredible, long-lasting impact it had in America - all of this on its own would have been fascinating. But there is something compelling about the sinister events happening in every other chapter, as Holmes comes to Chicago and begins creating his "murder castle" as the fair is being built, refining his techniques and ideas as time goes on.
The amount of research that went into this book is incredible. Quotes from newspapers, diaries, reports, books from that time; all of it goes into creating an account of life in Chicago in the 1890s that feels almost like it's being told first-hand. The details about the place itself - the White city of the fair and the Black city of Chicago - breathe life into the surroundings, making the cities characters in and of themselves.
If you're interested in history, true crime, and spectacles, this is the book for you.
The importance of the fair, how it came to be built in Chicago, the challenges of funding and creating the buildings and fairgrounds, the incredible, long-lasting impact it had in America - all of this on its own would have been fascinating. But there is something compelling about the sinister events happening in every other chapter, as Holmes comes to Chicago and begins creating his "murder castle" as the fair is being built, refining his techniques and ideas as time goes on.
The amount of research that went into this book is incredible. Quotes from newspapers, diaries, reports, books from that time; all of it goes into creating an account of life in Chicago in the 1890s that feels almost like it's being told first-hand. The details about the place itself - the White city of the fair and the Black city of Chicago - breathe life into the surroundings, making the cities characters in and of themselves.
If you're interested in history, true crime, and spectacles, this is the book for you.