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

More of a history lesson

This was a very interesting history of the Columbus World's Fair and that part I enjoyed. I thought the story would be more about Holmes the serial killer, and less about the details of creating the world's fair. Both stories would have been fascinating if told separately but seemed to water down when told together.

Not just about HH Holmes....

Larson did a phenomenal job researching what had to be thousands of facts about the time period in which Holmes’ murders occurred. However, it would seem that roughly sixty percent of the book, possibly more, is about the Chicago World’s Fair / Columbian Exposition and the life of Daniel Burnam instead of the intended topic, HH Holmes. My high school senior student and I chose this book for a book review homework assignment which was supposed to have been about Holmes. We found ourselves lacking most of the Holmes’ murder details found in other books and television shows. If you are attempting to gain facts about the murders themselves or details about the “murder castle”, you’ll find neither in this book.
However, the Chicago Fair is described in glorious detail and Larson is especially talented in the ways of turning historical facts into an interesting novel.
My husband attempted to listen to several hours of the book but found the overwhelming amount of small facts unnecessary and mundane and he could not finish it.

History comes to life

Would you listen to The Devil in the White City again? Why?

This book made me want to visit Chicago to see everything and experience the worlds fair for myself. This story is very detailed sometimes it’s a bit dry, but you think about the stories even when your not reading. I loved the story about the token girl architect and everything she had to go through. I would listen again!

What other book might you compare The Devil in the White City to and why?

This is a historic book that draws you in. You come for the the murder and intrigue and stay for the art and drama of the Worlds Fair.

Did Scott Brick do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

The book is so detailed it can start to feel like a history book.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Chicago Worlds Fair created millionaires and murderers, the first Ferris wheel and a murder hotel.

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this book. I was expecting a book laced with fiction, but sometime the truth is stranger than fiction. Everything in this book is true and it was fantastic.

Enthralling and historically accurate

It starts out slow, but hang in there as it really is an enthralling story of success, greed and sociopathic murder. The many ways that this one event changed the world is quite remarkable. Of course narration by Scott Brick really brings the story to life. Let’s face it, he can make a dictionary sound good.

rich with history...and gruesome detail

rich with history...and gruesome detail. The stories of the world's fair are just as gripping as the tale of H.H. Holmes' deviance.

Not quite what I expected.

I expected a book about a serial killer, but this was also a (long) description of how the Chicago world fair was build. I really had no interest in that part of the story and it only served to dilute the main story.

What a great choice for my first audiobook!

Devil in the white city is filled with points of interest which made me hit pause but only to research and take note of the next book I will be reading. I definitely will be giving this book a second listen

If you love true crime and history, read this!

Erik Larson brings together two genres I love most - history and true crime. Larson narrates a true story of the building of the World's Fair in Chicago and the deaths of countless victims by (probably) America's first urban serial killer. I was captivated in listening to this audible from start to finish. Larson does a great job of weaving in two stories in one book. At times I felt bored by Burnham's construction of the World's Fair. The ending was okay - I felt I needed more of a full and completed ending for the story of HH Holmes.

Starts slow, but is well worth the time.

The story starts slow, but about halfway through I couldn't put it down. The research Larson put into this shows it was a labor of love.

Entertaining

This book is most interesting in its depiction of the turn-of-the-century Columbian World's Fair in Chicago at the close of the 19th century. It's an engrossing tale about how the world was changed by this enormous event. The details that the author focuses on illuminates the struggle of personalities and physical obstacles that faced those charged to make Chicago's world fair outdo any that had come before. Simultaneously, the story of the murderous Holmes, a psychotic serial killer encamped just near the fair, is chilling due to the fact that the book is based upon the known facts of the real crimes. Unfortunately, the stories of the killer and the World's Fair architechts never dovetail, as we hope they might, and that might have made for a more compelling story. Nevertheless the book is a great read. It succeeds more in the reportage and drama of pulling off such a feat as the Fair, less so in the horror category of the murders. When you listen, go on the internet and look up actual photos of the Columbian Exposition... they exist, and they add quite a visual punch to what you're hearing described in the novel. This reader is great, too, btw. All books he's read have been fun to listen to.