Book Reviews: Book Review of The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson -- Blue Rectangle

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The Devil in the White City

Erik Larson

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The Devil In the White City Erik Larson "Various people had recommended to me Devil in the White City. It didn't seem like a book that would particularly interest me. The way it was described to me, it sounded like it was going to be something of a period piece. It's - well, it's nonfiction. It does take place during the time of the World's Fair at the turn of the century. Not something that I generally find to be particularly interesting, but so many people from so many different walks of life had recommended it that I decided I would give it a try. Probably by about page 5, I was already sucked in. Devil in the White City tells two stories that are almost uniquely transposed together: the story of the architecture through the World's Fair, but told through the eyes of Daniel Burnham, who is the architect who was responsible for it, and the psychopathic killer that took advantage of the circumstances around the World's Fair in order to be able to take advantage of some of those victims. What Eric Larson does that I don't think any other author that I've read has ever done successfully is that he's able to fuse the two stories together. Whether you're more interested in the architecture section or interested in the murder section, you've really got a story that tells the whole story of the World's Fair through these two pieces. I think there's an awful wide readership that would find this book intriguing. The best way I can describe it is that when I've given it to people, I've said, "I know this may not be the sort of book that you would ever pick up for any reason, but I think there's something in it for everybody."