Image Source: Wikipedia
Author: Erik Larson
Name of the book: Devil in the White City
Language: English
Genre: Devil in the White City
About the Author
Erik Larson is an American journalist and
author of nonfiction books. He has written several bestsellers, including The
Devil in the White City, about the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago
and a series of murders by H. H. Holmes that were committed in the city around
the time of the Fair.
Book Review
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic,
and Madness at the Fair That Changed America is a 2003 historical non-fiction
book by Erik Larson presented in a novelistic style. The book is based on real
characters and events. It tells the story of the 1893 World’s Columbian
Exposition in Chicago from the viewpoint of the designers, including Daniel
Burnham, and also tells the story of H. H. Holmes, a criminal figure at that
same time often credited as the first modern serial killer.
The Devil in the White City is an
intriguing, shocking, and enthralling recounting of the events of 1893
World Fair. It’s part history, part true crime and it’s all really interesting.
Information about the World’s Fair and its planning and execution plays a
larger role in the novel than H. H. Holmes’s story, probably due to the surfeit
of information out there about it in comparison to Holmes.
While the same story in less capable hands
would probably still be interesting, Larson transports you back to the Gilded
Age with certain ease — he brings forth evocative details and information.
Larson’s writing is crisp, and he has a clear intuition for what facts and
information are compelling. Larson transforms this tangle of facts and events
into a smooth and evenly flowing storyline with aplomb.
Larson also intersperses his chronology of
events with nods towards other major events in history occurring at that time
which adds context to the story. For lovers of historical details and similar
curiosities, it’ll be a delightful read full of esoteric asides and satisfying
background information, but if you’re expecting this to read like a murder
mystery, you might need to tailor your expectations.
It took some time to read, but I found it an enjoyable undertaking. It’s a fascinating story about a fascinating time in history. Electricity is becoming more widespread, the need for water purification is newly being accepted, and the medical profession is still being developed, with schools sending students out to grave rob to have subjects to learn from. \
Meanwhile, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency is gaining a
reputation for strike-breaking (the agency would also be enlisted to track down
H. H. Holmes), both Jack the Ripper and Lizzie Borden’s murders occur around
this time, and as a backdrop, a financial crisis is brewing, culminating in the
Panic of 1893.
Part of why the story of the 1893 fair is
entrancing because it’s about Americans coming together to perform an
impossible task in the name of civic duty and pulling it off. As I read it, I
thought about the current state of our politics where we can’t get any good
legislation passed and our technology where tech companies are too busy selling
our data to innovate. I worry that the time for America to do great things has
passed.
A Few (Minor) Criticisms
I only had a few minor gripes: I wish there
would have been more indications as to which facts or figures are of
questionable accuracy. Plus, some scenes and conversations are more speculative
than fact mixed in there to make the narrative feel more story-like. Instead,
almost everything is presented as fact, which in turn made me take everything I
was reading with a grain of salt.
Also, Burnham’s obstacles and challenges in
getting the White City built on Chicago’s unaccommodating soil and inclement
weather consume a large portion of the book, and it gets a tad tedious after a
while.
Additionally, the description of the one female architect as having gone “mad” because she cried when being fired seemed a bit sexist. Her Wikipedia article does a better job of explaining what happened with her, but her story is sadly also a good illustration of how smart women get forced out of certain fields.
Image Source: YouTube
Devil in the White City Movie Adaptation
There’s an adaptation of The Devil in the
White City that’s currently in development. The only cast listed is Leonardo
DiCaprio as H. H. Holmes. It’s being developed as a series for Hulu (in
partnership with Paramount TV), and Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese are
producing.
The film adaptation of this has been a
decade-long process since Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way
picked up the rights in 2010, but recently (February 2019) it has seen some
activity as it switched from being a feature film to a Hulu series. So, he
hasn’t given up on the property.
Read it or Skip it?
Have you ever gone down a rabbit hole of
exploring Wikipedia topics? Then this book might be for you.
The Devil in the White City is a book for
people with a natural curiosity and lovers of history or true crime or
architecture. It is certainly a lot more substantive with a lot more
information than your average bestseller, but these facts have been carefully
curated and narrated to tell a fascinating story.
I enjoyed this book, pretty much from cover
to cover, but I’m also a biased reader of the book. My favorite apartment I
ever lived in was in Chicago, in a building originally built across the street
from the fair’s Palace of Fine Arts (now the Museum of Science and Industry) as
a hotel to meet the fair’s housing needs.
My Ratings for the book 5/5
You can easily order a copy of it from
Amazon – Devil in the White City
Written By – Violet Priscilla S
Edited By - Anamika Malik
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