Book Review: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

The Devil in the White City is a surprisingly interesting account of Chicago's Columbian Exposition (1892) and the activities of a serial killer who made the city home at the time of the fair. When I picked up the book, I suspected that the book's popularity might be due in large part to the fact that the book would have automatic appeal to Chicagoans, particularly Hyde Parkers. Having spent many years in Hyde, Park, the part of the city in which the Exposition occurred, I was particularly enthralled by discussion of many of my own favorite haunts (e.g. the wooded island where I walked my dogs every morning and the Midway).

What Larson does best in this book is drawing the sharp contrast between the "White City," the almost mythical city created for the fair, and "darkness," the chaos of turn of the century urban living exemplified by Larson's villain, serial killer Holmes, but also by the soot and pollution of the trains and factories, disease, economic depression, and the stench and gore of Chicago's slaughterhouses. Indeed, the White City, which, by Larson's account, had a profound impact on America for the next century, deeply affecting the American psyche, architectural styles, and even inspiring Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom and the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, is ever in danger of succumbing to the "darkness."

As for the story of Holmes, as I just indicated, I like it best as symbolic of grim reality. However, if you are into reading about serial killers, you might find it more interesting on its own account.

I highly recommend this book.