The Devil in the White City

Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

By: Erik Larson

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The true tale of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and the cunning serial killer who used the magic and majesty of the fair to lure his victims to their death.

Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America’s rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair’s brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country’s most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his “World’s Fair Hotel” just west of the fairgrounds—a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium.

Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake.

The Devil in the White City draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and others. Erik Larson’s gifts as a storyteller are magnificently displayed in this rich narrative of the master builder, the killer, and the great fair that obsessed them both.

©2003 Erik Larson (P)2003 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

National Book Awards, Short-listed

Edgar Allan Poe Award Winner, Fact Crime, 2004

"Engrossing . . . exceedingly well documented . . . utterly fascinating.” —Chicago Tribune

“A dynamic, enveloping book. . . . Relentlessly fuses history and entertainment to give this nonfiction book the dramatic effect of a novel. . . . It doesn’t hurt that this truth is stranger than fiction.” —The New York Times

“A wonderfully unexpected book. . . Larson is a historian . . . with a novelist’s soul.” —Chicago Sun-Times

very interesting

wonderful story about not only HH Holmes but also the columbian exposition and the trials to get it done

just and awfully good book

Well written and very well narrated. Kept my attention and I learned a lot. I only distantly knew of this fair. The author's descriptions are so good that I think it comes as close as possible to the real thing.

Great Book, You won’t be disappointed!

I don’t typically read stories about homicide but this is so well written it will keep you entertained. I’ve even visited a few places in Chicago because of the book. Enjoy!

Chicago history and Thriller !

Nice balance between the narration of the making of the Chicago world's fair and life of a serial killer. l could not put it down.

Interesting, but scatterbrained

The story of the Chicago world's fair is fascinating, and is well presented in this book. It seems bizarre to me that a little under half the book is about a serial killer, since that story is so disconnected from the events of the Fair, and in any case the story of the Fair stands so well on its own.

A Masterfuly Written Story

I love history, architecture, landscape art, and non-fiction thrillers. The era of the late 1800 provide a great combination of these genres. I was already aware of the key subjects from other famous landmarks, such as the Biltmore, but this story brought them together and told it as interesting an Agatha Christie may have done so.

A great listener

I really enjoyed the book. I thought it was kind of slow in the beginning but then before you know it you're wrapped up in the story and you can't stop listening

Better Than Expected

I really in enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. The story and the narration were exceptional.

Two Very Interesting Stories

This book clearly supports the adage that truth is better than fiction. One story about the creation of the Chicago Fair is extremely interesting but then the second intertwined story about a serial killer is icing on the cake. You just can’t make up this quality story telling. Highly recommend.

Fascinating read but a few production hiccups

The story was fascinating, the reader's voice was good but quirks in production should be fixed. For example, the last 10 secs of chapter 171 and the begining of chapter 172 are the same sentence. This was confusing to me as the listener, I thought I'd accidently rewinded. Unfortunately, this instance is only the first of several throughout the tape.

Another thing I did not like about the production is that it divides the book into 263 chapters when I believe it could have been grouped into far fewer sections. This critique is more personal preference than actual problem.

Other then that, I would definitely recommend for all fans of (American) history and true crime.