num_pages: 15
description: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed AmericaErik 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.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 fairgrounds—a 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.
language: English
title: The Devil in the White City
titlecomplete: The Devil in the White City
characters: Daniel Burnham, H.H. Holmes
genres: Audiobook, Book Club, Historical, Biography, Crime, American History, Mystery, Nonfiction, True Crime, History
ratings_count: 657344
places: Chicago, Illinois, Illinois
awards: awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: International Horror Guild Award
category: Nonfiction, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Book Sense Book of the Year Award, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Great Lakes Book Award
category: Nonfiction Shortlist, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Edgar Award
category: Best Fact Crime, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Washington State Book Award, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: National Book Award Finalist
category: Nonfiction, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: ALCS Dagger for Non-fiction
publisher: Random House Audio Publishing Group