_The Devil in the White City_ by Erik Larson
I am not sure how I came across this book, maybe from Oprah’s list or from Amazon’s recommended reads. It may have been when I was looking for non-fiction work after getting hooked on Jon Krakaeur’s books.
In any case, this was a very interesting story of the development of the World’s Fair hosted in Chicago and the killings of H.H. Holmes, who may have been Jack the Ripper. The story most centered on H.H. Holmes (the devil), but it was also quite fascinating to read about the development of the World’s Fair and to imagine the building of the White City. Chicago has some amazing architectural buildings and so this book sort of helped me to imagine how Chicago was built up. Also, the surprise of one of the architectural pieces we sort of take for granted today was interesting (I won’t tell you in case you want to read the book!).
Overall, this was a very interesting read. Not long after I finished reading this, R also read it as he has both a fascination with serial killers and non-fictional pieces. We, then, watched the UK documentary on H.H. Holmes. More recently, this article from the Huffington Post was published about a man who might be the great-great grandson of H.H. Holmes. Amazing!
If you like murder mysteries and historical reads, this just might be for you!
-T π
