In the 1890s, Chicago was a city with something to prove. It had a collective inferiority complex of sorts, feeling slighted by its eastern counterparts who apparently regarded Chicago as a midwest backwater, a town that could not begin to compete with the culture and society that metropolises such as New York City and Philadelphia could provide. And the United States itself had something to prove. Paris had just hosted a world’s exposition in 1889 that astounded everyone with its wonders, particularly the Eiffel Tower. America felt it had to outdo the French and take its place as a leader on the world stage. Several cities vied for the honor to host a fair commemorating Columbus’s discovery of America, but to everyone’s surprise – and Chicagoans’ delight – Chicago was chosen to host the world in 1893.
Erik Larson invites us into this tumultuous period in The Devil in the White City, detailing the extensive and extraordinary preparations that led up to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. It was a time of greatness, where almost inconceivable dreams became a reality, but it was also a time of great unrest and upheaval, with banks closing and thousands out of work. Before reading this book, I hadn’t really heard too much about the exposition, but it is astounding how much excitement and furor it generated. Chicago’s fair boasted architectural and entertaining wonders, as well as many firsts: foods such as Cracker Jack and Shredded Wheat; and the Ferris Wheel. Into this mix Larson introduces us to H.H. Holmes, arguably America’s first serial killer, who made Chicago his main hunting ground. Alternating chapters between the fair and the killer, Larson builds the suspense and anticipation surrounding both storylines, interweaving the two and showing how the fair even helped Holmes carry out his deadly crimes.
The main architect and impetus behind the fair was Daniel Burnham. I didn’t know it until this book, but Burnham was also the designer of the Flatiron Building in NYC, an image of which I have hanging on my living room wall. Knowing so much about his genius and personality as I do now, I have an even greater appreciation for that building.
Although I started a couple books while on vacation (all of them reading challenge selections), The Devil in the White City is the only one thus far that I’ve actually finished, and I didn’t even do that until after we got back – so you know I must have been having a great time if I don’t get much reading time in! And it also marks my second book for the Non-Fiction Five Challenge. Onwards and upwards!