Monday, June 22, 2009

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson


Several of us have read this one. It's about the Chicago World's Fair which had far-reaching impact on many levels, including many things we take for granted today. It's also about a mass murderer who was in Chicago at the time. That part is chilling.

The book is incredibly well researched. I can't image how long it took Larson to research and synthesize it into the book (which is quite long).

1 comment:

  1. My favorite part of this book was all the new things that came out of the fair - the Ferris Wheel, Bisquick, Shredded-Wheat (ew), etc.

    They said it would have taken 2 complete weeks to fully take in all the exhibits and really see the whole event - what an amazing 2 weeks that would have been!!

    A lot of attention was paid to Holmes in the book but I was equally fascinated by Pendergast - I thought his delusions were interesting and especcially how the post cards help to catalogue it.

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