Erik Larson: The Devil in the White City

This is a book I've used as an option in my AP class. It was the only book I hadn't read for the longest time. I finally finished it, and here is my review.

The Devil in the White City covers two true stories. The first is the story of the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. This part of the book follows the story of how the fair was built and the work that went into it by the famous architect Daniel H. Burnham. The second storyline follows the life of America's first serial killer, Dr. H. H. Holmes, who was active at the time of the World's Fair. Both accounts are true and pulled from primary source documents. Larson attempts to use the voices of the actual people involved wherever possible.

This book was an interesting account on both sides. The individual stories were interesting, detailed, and as I said, Larson pulled from primary sources wherever possible. He often uses the "characters'" words when recounting their story. I enjoyed this aspect of it and found both stories compelling.

The major issue with this book comes with how it's constructed. I really think Larson tried to do too much with this book. The two storylines attempt to juxtapose the "white city" (moniker for the world's fair) and Holmes's evil actions, but they're not all that related. I think if they had been two separate books, they would have been better. Mashed into one story made it feel disjointed. This is the complaint my students have with it as well: he tried to do too much and tried to connect two stories that have only vague connections. Maybe if he had put all of the world's fair into one part and all of the Holmes story into the second part, it would have been more successful?

I rate this book PG or PG-13 for the grisly descriptions of Holmes's murders. I gave this book ⭐⭐⭐

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