The Devil in the White City

The Devil in the White City:  Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America

The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson tells the parallel tales of Chicago winning and developing the site for the 1893 World’s Fair and the tale of a serial murder who utilized the fair as a tool to lure his victims. On the one hand we have Daniel Burnham struggling to make his legacy through the fair. On the other, we have H. H. Holmes cementing his legacy as ‘The Devil in the White City’.

The individual story lines could be classified as remarkable pieces of history that would be interesting on their own. The comments I have heard from others who have read this book are usually along the lines of disbelief that this is not fiction and/or the disbelief that they didn’t know about this before. I am in total agreement.

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