The Devil in the White City

The Book in 1 Sentence

A book presented to be about H.H. Holmes, but in reality it is about the Worlds Fair and the architects that built it to have it all ruined by depression and fire.

Brief Review

The Devil in the White City suggests in its introduction, its tag line, and its cover that the builder of the Chicago World's Fair in 1892 was linked to the serial killer H. H. Holmes. However, this book talks more about the architecture of the world's fair, the gardens, and the people and their egos than it does about H. H. Holmes or about any apparent link between the two other than proximity.

Why I Read this book

After the Loki Season 2 finale, I was watching a video about the world's fair and this book came up. I was curious.

In-Depth Review (Favorite Quotes)

I got into this book because I expected it to be more about the serial killer and him using the Worlds Fair to become a part of it which allowed him to exploit it. But that wasn't the case at all.

While he did build a building to prep for the Worlds Fair and to exploit the people, in particular young women who were new to Chicago, it was taking advantage of the events in the city he moved to. He wasn't linked to the Worlds Fair any more than he was linked to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes who he created his alias from.

This book continued to make you think you were going to get more about something other than an in-depth review of each member's memoir who was participating in the design and implementation of the Worlds Fair. For instance, the Mayor of Chicago was widowed twice and was getting ready to marry or just married his new wife when he was murdered by someone, a Mr. Pendergast if I got his name correct, who thought that since he helped get him into office, he deserved to be on the staff. What does that have to do with "The Devil in the White City?" What does that have to do with the Worlds Fair other than a tangential relation, because he was the mayor during the fair?

That is my chief complaint about this book. I got such miniscule amount of information about Holmes, compared to the overwhelming amount about Burnham and Olmsted who were the lead designer and landscape artist respectively. For instance, there is a large section that discusses a vacation that the Olmsted took with his kids to help cure his depression. It didn't work. With that, it doesn't change the story at all.

Rating

This book overall was a disappointment. It is 70% Worlds Fair history and personal biography, with 30% being about H. H. Holmes with that portion also being about him taking his wives through the Fair. It is a firm belief that this book was originally be about the Worlds Fair and then either the publisher didn't think it was long enough or they wanted a different book that would cause more controversy. Also, the ending chapters about the hunt for Holmes's last murders AFTER he was already in custody was a sneeze of a chapter. If they had flushed that out more telling the story like they did the rest it could easily have been 50/50. However, Larson did not do that. Maybe it was the disgust of children being a common target for Holmes and in that case I do agree. It is disturbing. However, the book is boring. It is more biographical about the individuals in the fair and that isn't what I am interested in or how the book is presented. It is a 5. Too wordy for what was presented without any justification. Potentially the movie/series would be better presented.

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