The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (2003)
In 1893, Chicago hosted the Columbian World's Exposition celebrating the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the "New World." Chicago was at the time a city struggling to find itself. When it was awarded the honor of hosting the event, it had numerous challenges to overcome. The architectural firm of Burnham and Root had the task of creating the exhibition grounds. Early on in the planning, however, Root, who was the creative partner, died. Burnham enlisted the aid of numerous other well known architects to assist in the project, including Frederick Law Olmstead, of New York's Central Park fame, and Louis Sullivan. The end result was the beautiful "White City" of the exposition grounds.
At the same time Dr. Henry H. Holmes arrived in Chicago and built his own version of the "World's Fair Hotel" adjacent to the exposition grounds. His building, which he was able to create by firing workers after a few days, included random hallways, soundproof rooms, dissection tables, gas chambers and a 3,000 crematorium. Holmes was a psychopath with an uncanny ability to lie his way through any difficulty. He also had an ability to lure young women, who were beginning to leave their farms and come to the city to find work, to stay at his hotel, where he would torture and kill them. He was ultimately captured and incarcerated on insurance fraud charges. The murders came to light when a detective with the Pinkerton Agency began probing into the disappearance of three children and their deaths were linked to him.
This was a marvelous book, well written, and brought the end of the 19th century to life. The Columbian Exhibition helped Chicago become the city it is today, and had many visitors, including Buffalo Bill, Susan B. Anthony, and Theodore Dreiser.
Read: December 27, 2009
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