The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is a meticulously researched nonfiction book that captures the magic of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the darkness of serial killer H.H. Holmes. The book intercuts chapters about the fair and Holmes' crimes, providing a fascinating and sometimes disturbing look at the era.
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is a meticulously researched nonfiction book that captures the magic of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the darkness of serial killer H.H. Holmes. The book intercuts chapters about the fair and Holmes' crimes, providing a fascinating and sometimes disturbing look at the era. The reviewer was initially drawn to the book because of the serial killer angle but ended up being just as engrossed in the descriptions of how the World's Fair came together. The book is well-researched and uses personal letters, court transcripts, meeting notes, news articles, and interviews to tell the story. The reviewer found the early pages a bit dry but became more engaged as they got more familiar with the people involved.
Quick quotes
The book unfolds primarily with intercutting chapters about what’s happening with the World’s Fair versus what’s happening with Holmes as he constructs his own building full of peculiar corridors, soundproof rooms, and traps… and then carries out his own dark plans.
This was during a day and age when people just didn’t ask questions like they do today. There was little city or government oversight into citizen’s activities.
Larson clearly did a lot of research to write this book. He used personal letters, court transcripts, meeting notes, news articles and interviews, and journals to unfurl the story of the World’s Fair and Holmes’s crimes in a style that feels almost novelistic at times.