| | |  | | Home » The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America | | | | | | | Features: | |
• ISBN13: 9780375725609
• Condition: New
• Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Erik Larson | | Paperback:
| 447 pages | | Publisher:
| Vintage | | Publication Date:
| February 10, 2004 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0375725601 | | Package Length:
| 7.9 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.1 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.0 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.05 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 913 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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 Not done yet...but it's a chore at this point to continue...Jul 27, 2010
I'll start with the caveat that I haven't yet finished the book. The Kindle version says I'm about 25% done with it...but it's a chore to read so far. If it didn't come so highly recommended by my sister-in-law...I would have put it down by now. In fact, I did put it down once...(meaning I quit reading it), but picked it back up at her insistence. If a book doesn't get me after the first 30+ pages...it's history. This book hasn't gotten me yet...the whole architectural thing is too slow and drawn out. Too much detail about about a bunch of architects that drags on and on. I guess if you're into Chicago or Architecture...it might work for you. I like Lee Child, Vince Flynn, etc., that kind of action, and this book doesn't have it. I'm going to try and continue...but...it better pick up soon or I'll fall asleep.
 One thumb up, one thumb downJul 26, 2010
"The Devil in the White City" is a two-for-the-price-of-one kind of book. In other words, there are two separate stories told in alternating chapters of the book's 390 pages. The story of the 1893 World's Fair is definitely the stronger offering. It's also the more detailed and more thoroughly researched part. The author's passion and interest in this subject is evident from the get-go. Larson does a fine job in describing the men who planeed the fair -- primarily Burnham, Olmsted, Ferris and Bloom -- against the political backdrop of late-19th century Chicago. For some, the detail may be a bit overwhelming. But for me, it was a great piece of historical writing.
The other part of the book is the story of H. H. Holmes, a serial killer who stalked most of his victims in Chicago during the 1893 fair. There isn't much of a connection between Holmes and the fair, except that he owned a hotel nearby and he visited the fair at least once with two of his future victims. To be sure, it feels like Holmes's life and crimes are given short shrift in the book. There's very little about his childhood or upbringing, and the chapters describing his adult life don't offer the same detail and insight as those describing the fair.
If Larson had presented the Devil with nearly the same care as he described the White City, then the book would have been a fascinating read from start to finish. But munging the two parts together, with Holmes's story playing second fiddle, left me wanting quite a bit more.
 Grisly & GrandJul 19, 2010
A great book by a masterful writer. I'm frankly surprised to see as many negative reviews as there for this one, since it was a bestseller. My advice: get it, enjoy it. Can't enjoy it? Poor you.
Subscribers of Architectural Review will love thisJul 17, 2010
Anyone interested in holmes, his actions , his psychology not so much.
This is in fact an incredibly wordy historical review of the chicago world fair at the time of holmes crimes and the architecture of the time. Reading the first few.. no.. most of the book feels similar to reading one of those college textbooks required by professors who happened to have written them.
If you would like some actual concrete reading on Holmes you can order Depraved from amazon or other worthy books on this sociopath. This however seems simply to have been the tacking on of the name of a serial killer (and a horrific one) in order to sell a high school term paper on the chicago worlds fair.
An amazing read, stranger than fictionJul 16, 2010
The 1893 World's Fair in Chicago (or Columbian Exposition) was truly a wonder of the world, albeit a temporary one. The enormity of the undertaking was shocking in its ambitious scope. I really didn't know any particulars about the fair before reading this page-turner and I found myself completely engrossed. I've long been a collector of antique stereoview's and one can download a number of pictures of the fair in high resolution from wikipedia. I found this tale so compelling that I compiled a book of high-resolution photos of the fair and put it on blurb - [...] .
The images really help give a context to the scale of the structures and make the story that much more impressive. The interspersed story of serial killer H. H. Holmes adds a bit of theatrical drama to this already intriguing story. In a sense, this is a book about two men whose lives are overtaken by their obsessions. All in all a must read, though I highly recommend looking through a book of images to get a better sense of just how huge the fair really was.
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