The Devil in the White City

The Devil in the White City
Erik Larson

Paul and I could hardly put down this page turner of a book, eventually buying it in paperback so we could stop fighting over whose turn it was to read the library’s copy. In The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson uses his journalism chops to research the story of America’s first documented serial killer, and the simultaneous construction of the world’s fair that brought him such a large choice of prey. This unappealing topic is shaped into a tastefully written true crime story that is cunningly juxtaposed with the tale of massive cultural change during the building of Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair. The fair, nicknamed “The White City” for its opulent architectural center piece, has since been lost to the great Chicago fire, but Larson manages to bring it back to life only to have it steal the show from the gorier biography of Dr. H. H. Holmes, sociopath M.D. Sensitive readers can easily skim over the relatively few graphic details and sink into the fascinating tale of determination which brought the Chicago Exposition to life.

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