Cover via Open Library
Matt's pick · not sponsored
The Devil in the White City
- 1893 World's Fair
- Chicago
- serial killer
- architecture
- Gilded Age
- true crime
Buy on Amazon(paid referral link)
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Why I'd hand it to you
Two stories run side by side here: Daniel Burnham and his team racing to build the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and H.H. Holmes, a con man and killer who used the fair's crowds to find victims. Larson writes history like a novelist, and the fair chapters, full of architects and engineering problems, are the real surprise. One caveat: the Holmes sections rely on thin records, so some of his scenes are informed reconstruction rather than documented fact. Readers who only want the true-crime half may find the architecture slow. For people who think they don't like history, though, this is a good door in.
— Matt Jordan
Quick summary
- Book
- The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
- Who it's for
- People who think history is dull, plus fans of narrative nonfiction who are curious about architecture as much as crime.
- Key topics
- The 1893 Chicago World's Fair
- Daniel Burnham and the fair's builders
- H.H. Holmes
- The Gilded Age
- Shelves
- History, General Nonfiction
Details
- Author
- Erik Larson
- ASIN
- 0375725601
- On these shelves
- History General Nonfiction
- Short link
mattsbooks.org/r/dwci
