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Marvels and Murder at the World

               
       Erik Larson ("Isaac's Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History") brings to vivid life the true story of a serial killer who stalked tourists at one of the greatest world's fairs in American history.DEVIL in the WHITE CITY by Erik Larson.jpg

In "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America," Larson brilliantly weaves the building of Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition with the madness of a seemingly charming physician who was one of America's first serial killers.

While the great Chicago architect Daniel Burnham was designing and building the fair---popularly known as "the White City" because it was dazzingly illuminated with tens of thousands of new-fangled electric light bulbs---
the sinister doctor had designs of his own: a macabre plot of mayhem and murder in a house right at the edge of the World Expo.
The book has the suspense of a page-turning thriller and the
"you-are-there" vividness of the best historical re-creation. It's as close to attending this great World's Fair as we are likely to get. The fair featured the likes of Thomas Edison, Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley and Susan B. Anthony. George W. Ferris built his Ferris Wheel for this fair which was held in Chicago to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus's landing in America.
CHCAGO 1893 World's Fair Court_of_Honor_and_Grand_Basin.jpg
         Court of Honor and Grand Basin
         Columbian World Exposition
         Chicago, 1893
The Chicago Fair's organizers wanted something that would rival the Eiffel Tower. Four years earlier, Gustave Eiffel had built the tower for the Paris World's Fair of 1889 which honored the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. 
CHICAGO 1893 World's Fair Ferris-wheel.jpg 
Although Ferris was initially ridiculed as "a man with wheels in his mind," he did bring his giant wheel to fruition. It was an engineering wonder: two 140-foot steel towers supported the wheel; they were connected by a 45-foot axle, the largest single piece of forged steel ever made up until that time. Thirrty-six wooden cars held up to sixty riders each. The ride cost fifty cents and made $726,805.50 during the fair's run.

The Exposition drew nearly 26 million visitors. It left a remembered vision that inspired the Emerald City of L. Frank Baum's Land of Oz and Walt Disney's theme parks.

While the book reads like a novel, the story is true. As world expos tend to do, the Chicago Columbian Exposition exemplified America's optimism for a fast-approaching new century. But while tourists from around the country and the world descended on Chicago to see the fair's--and the future's-- marvels, Chicago's burgeoning population provided cover for the sinister Dr. H.H. Holmes. H.H. Holmes
This was the beginning of a phenomenon: an expanding nation of people in ever-growing metropolises which provide anonymity to sociopaths in our midst. The story "feels like" the novelized fiction of E.L. Doctorow ("Ragime") meeting "Sweeney Todd." 
Cinematic in its vivid and detailed re-creation of a nation on the brink of a New Age---and killers hiding in plain sight---this is one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. I highly recommend it.


--Hoyt Harris

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