The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

The bestselling author of Isaac’s Storm returns with a brilliant historical account of the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, and the gripping stories of the two men who shaped its place in history: visionary architect Daniel H. Burnham and insatiable serial killer Dr. Henry H. Holmes. In deft prose, Larson conveys Burnham’s Herculean challenge to build "The White City," as the fair project became known, in less than 18 months. At the same time he describes how, in a malign parody of the achievements of the fair’s builders, Holmes built his own World’s Fair Hotel: a torture palace complete with a gas chamber and crematorium. A nonfiction blend of Ragtime and Silence of the Lambs, The Devil in the White City is Erik Larson at his brilliant, storytelling best. 6 photographs; Map