book the devil in the white city by erik larson

Over the course of the 6 months it was open, it logged 27.5 million visits at a time when the world population was 65 million. The White City Background Information on the 1893 World’s Fairįor a quick primer, the World’s Fair: Columbian Exposition in Chicago, was a held in 1893 and was billed as a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the New World.

Holmes was finishing development of what some nowadays refer to as his “Murder Castle” - a hotel and mansion on a block-long tract of land to the south of Chicago that he engineered to facilitate his misdeeds. Around the time the 26-month construction is going on, a handsome doctor going by the name of H. The architect, Daniel Hudson Burnham, was already well known, but his construction of the White City would cement his reputation. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson tells two interlaced stories of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago - that of the chief architect of the fair’s White City and another about a murderer that ran rampant at that time, often considered America’s first serial killer. There’s been an uptick lately in the level of interest in stories of the true crime variety, so I figured this was a good time to dive in. As a result, it’s been on my to-be-read list for many years now. I was too busy at the time - working full-time and getting ready to move across the country pretty much up until the days before orientation started - and skipped it. According to the maps, we would have been located between Old Vienna and the Moorish Palace. It was an apt choice - our building is located along the Midway Plaisance which served as the entertainment area for the 1893 World’s Fair featured in the book. When I first moved to Chicago for grad school, we were assigned The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson as recommended summer reading.

Book the devil in the white city by erik larson