The Devil in the White City

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER ΓÇó NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST ΓÇó From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile comes the true tale of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago and the cunning serial killer who used the magic and majesty of the fair to lure his victims to their death. ΓÇ£As absorbing a piece of popular history as one will ever hope to find.ΓÇ¥ ΓÇöSan Francisco Chronicle Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling,Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction. Two meneach handsome and unusually adept at his chosen workembodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized AmericaΓÇÖs rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnhamthe fairΓÇÖs brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the countryΓÇÖs most important structuresincluding the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in WashingtonD.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmesa young doctor whoin a malign parody of the White Citybuilt his ΓÇ£WorldΓÇÖs Fair HotelΓÇ¥ just west of the fairgroundsΓÇöa torture palace complete with dissection tablegas chamberand 3000-degree crematorium. Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law OlmstedCharles McKimLouis Sullivanand others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White Citywhile 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 livedwalking the grounds of that dream city by the lake. The Devil in the White City draws the reader into the enchantment of the Guilded Agemade all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life charactersincluding Buffalo BillTheodore DreiserSusan B. AnthonyThomas EdisonArchduke Francis Ferdinandand others. Erik LarsonΓÇÖs gifts as a storyteller are magnificently displayed in this rich narrative of the master builderthe killerand the great fair that obsessed them both.