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Online Store - The Devil in the White City
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List Price: $26.85
Our Price: $15.00
Your Save: $ 11.85 ( 44% )
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Doubleday
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780385602051
ISBN: 0385602057
Label: Doubleday
Manufacturer: Doubleday
Number Of Pages: 289
Publication Date: 2003-03-03
Publisher: Doubleday
Studio: Doubleday
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Editorial Reviews:
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The Chicago World's Fair of 1893 was one of the most spectacular exhibitions the world has ever seen. This is the story of its realization, and of the two men whose fates it linked - an architect and a serial killer. The architect as Daniel H. Burnham, who created the White City, a magical landscape of white buildings set in a wonderland of canals and gardens. The killer was H.H. Holmes, a handsome young doctor with striking blue eyes, who used the attraction of the great fair - and his own devilish charms - to lure scores of young women to their death. Holmes would stroll through the fair at night, when an electric dynamo transformed it into an incandescent fairyland, with an unsuspecting victim on each arm. While Burnham was overcoming politics, personality clashes and the ferocious Chicago winds to bring about the transformation of swampy Jackson Park into the White City, Holmes had a building project of his own just west of the fairground. He called it the Worlds Fair Hotel; in reality it was a torture palace, complete with a gas chamber and crematorium. This is the story of the men and women whose lives were irrevocably changed by the Chicago World Fair, and of Burnham and Holmes. Spicing the narrative are the stories of a cast of historical characters including Buffalo Bill, Scott Joplin and Theodore Dreiser.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Thrilling and Enchanting History
Comment: This book is an exciting and compelling account of of the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair. Although it reads like a mystery novel, it is actual history. Two parallel stories run through the book, the account of the planning and success of the fair as well as the activities of a sinister serial killer who preyed upon visitors to the fair. The author is especially adept at bringing out the interesting side stories that intersect with the account of the fair. Highly recommended--especially for fans of history and mysteries.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The beginnings of modern America
Comment: Awesome.
The White City, a neoclassical court of stunning buildings, lit up with the first spotlights. Think of Washington's Mall, but more cozy.
The Black City, Chicago's nickname for its grime, dirt, and violence.
The chaos in Chicago, at a turning point in American civic art and architecture, provided cover for a madman. Holmes built a Black City castle, processing the bodies of his victims like pigs at the stockyards.
A great follow-up would be a history of Chicago in the 1900s, where you watch Burnham and other characters take their Fair concepts and methodically apply them to the city at large. I'm going the other way, reading Homicide.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great bus/el read for commuting to Englewood
Comment: In most serial killer stories, there is something to lead you to believe that some redemption would have been possible. That of H.H. Holmes is a exception. And Larson paints a gruesome tale of how well pure evil can thrive in a distracted city with top to bottom incompetence.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Can't tell what this book is about; The Worlds Fair or H.H. Holmes
Comment: This book is choppy at best. It moves from one subject to the next and does not read through.
I was very dissapointed with this book. If I had known I would of bought the other book on H.H. Holmes!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Remarkable Story of Tragedy in the Shadows of Triumph
Comment: Stories of triumph and tragedy are paralleled in this remarkable book by Erik Larson. I initially picked up this book because of an interest in Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. The coverage of Burnham was fascinating and I also found myself quickly absorbed in the suspenseful drama of H.H. Holmes. The long shadows cast by the creation of the Fair provide cover for the sinister activities of a polite professional predator. This book took me on contrasting journeys of wonder and contempt for the people encountered along the way. Larson intricately builds a remarkable portrait of Chicago in the late 19th century. He skillfully includes enough historical anecdotes to open up other avenues for exploration as well. If you have an appreciation for architecture, history, or just a good true crime story, this is a book to savor.
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