The Devil in the White City

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America was written by Eric Larson published in 2003. It's genres include: Biography, True Crime, and Non-Fiction.

Plot:

The book follows two plots: Daniel Burnham's struggles to build the 1893 Chicago World's Fair in Jackson Park, and H. H. Holmes building his "Castle", luring, and killing young women who make their way to Chicago.

Burnham's plot is a lot of background information. It basically tells the story of how the fair's buildings were built and rebuilt after many conflicts arose. I found it rather boring. It just seemed to drag by so slowly! There was no excitement, and the conflicts were predictable. I could barely able to read the chapters about the World's Fair. I just found it uninteresting.

Holmes's plot was not quite as full of background information. His plot basically told the story of how he made his way to Chicago, built his "Castle", murdered women, used those who loved him, and eventually fled Chicago and was caught. The thing I found odd about the book was that the murders were only implied. They were never revealed in any detail whatsoever, and that made the book a bit boring.

Larson just couldn't make the subject interesting and still stay 100% true to history.

Suggesting This Book To...

I suggest this book to only those who really want to go in depth and learn every picky detail about the World's Fair preparations, disasters, and conflicts. If you are looking for a book on H. H. Holmes's history [which is what I was looking for] then this is NOT the book for you.

Rating

I give this book 1.5 out of 5 stars. It just didn't interest me, but did have a lot of historical information.