Somerville Public Library Blog

While trying to prepare my list of favorite movies of the last decade, I have decided that I cannot move on until I include one more favorite book.  This book makes me giddy just thinking about how much I enjoyed every single page.  If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City, you are missing out.  This nonfiction story of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 reads like a novel and tells the story of 2 men: Daniel Burnham, the mastermind and architect behind the Exposition and H.H. Holmes, one of America’s first serial killers.  Burnham, despite numerous obstacles, setbacks and a daunting 2 year deadline, created the “White City” which covered more than 600 acres and featured over 200 buildings of European Classical Architecture.  Reading about the fair is amazing - 46 nations participated in the fair and it attracted close to 26 million visitors.  There is the world’s first Ferris Wheel, appearances by Buffalo Bill Cody and Thomas Edison, not to mention the world’s first hamburger!

But every great story has a dark side: enter H.H. Holmes.  Masquerading as an eager & well-meaning doctor, he opens the World’s Fair Hotel, where he lures countless people, mainly single women, to their death.  As gruesome as some of these eerie passages are, I couldn’t tear myself away.  Larson’s writing is magnificent and will send chills up your spine.  Holmes was every bit as crafty as Burnham.  His hotel was windowless and thus the perfect place to perform his ghastly activities.  Many rooms were soundproof and equipped as gas chambers with secret chutes to send the bodies to the basement, where he had a dissection table and crematorium for disposal.  It’s simply shocking (and amazing) that Holmes is so successful and so good at being a murderer!  I know, this book sound scary.  But don’t be afraid to read it.  Larson’s storytelling is flawless and addictive.  You don’t want to miss this fascinating slice of American history.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 1:20 pm and is filed under Authors, Books.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.