Title

The devil in the white city : murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America

Description

Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America's rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair's brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country's most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his "World's Fair Hotel" just west of the fairgrounds₇a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium. Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake. The Devil in the White City draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and others. In this book the smoke, romance, and mystery of the Gilded Age come alive as never before. Erik Larson's gifts as a storyteller are magnificently displayed in this rich narrative of the master builder, the killer, and the great fair that obsessed them both.

Identifier

1126455

609608444

Creator

Larson, Erik

Format

1st ed.

Source

Brian Lamb Booknotes Collection

Gift of Brian Lamb, 2011.

Catalog record

Language

eng

Date

2003

Program air date: September 14, 2003

Publisher

Crown Publishers

George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives

Text

Transcription of Annotations
Front endpapers and flyleaf include some biographical information on the author and list some of the people who were instrumental in bringing the 1893 World's Fair to Chicago - the architect Daniel Hudson Burnham, Chicago mayor Carter Henry Harrison, the painter Francis Millet, and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead. Some notes provide biographical information on Dr. H.H. Holmes and some of the many young women whom he seduced and then murdered in his "World's Fair Hotel" which included a soundproof vault and kiln; others name some of the celebrities who attended the fair, e.g. Buffalo Bill, Susan B. Anthony, Clarence Darrow, and Elias Disney. It is mentioned that during the first six months of 1892, 800 violent deaths occurred in Chicago and that "vanishment" seems to have been a pastime. These questions and statements are also part of the notes: "This book is about the evanescence of life, good vs. evil." -- "How many deaths in construction?" -- "How many buildings?" -- "How many visitors?" -- "How did Chicago get [the] exposition?" -- Annotations by Brian Lamb in the margins and underlining of pertinent phrases throughout the book.

Subject

"Mudgett, Herman W., 1861-1896."

"Burnham, Daniel Hudson, 1846-1912."

"Serial murderers--Illinois--Chicago--Biography."

"Serial murders--Illinois--Chicago--Case studies."

"Architects--Illinois--Chicago--Biography."

Relation

Original Booknotes interview

Rights

This work may be protected by copyright laws and is provided for educational and research purposes only. Any infringing use may be subject to disciplinary action and/or civil or criminal liability as provided by law. If you believe that you are the rights-holder and object to Mason’s use of this image, please contact speccoll@gmu.edu.