Hello there! I think we can all agree that there is no longer any rhyme or reason to this blog.
Do I have eight or nine other recaps sitting in drafts? Yes.
Are some of those recaps for books I read last year? Also yes.
Am I recapping the book I most recently finished reading? Another resounding yes.
Obviously, there is no order here, no posting schedule, and certainly no goals—stated or unspoken—of getting caught up in any particular timeframe. It just is what it is and that's all it'll ever be. So if you've stuck around, thank you for your loyalty and I hope you enjoy what I have to say whenever I randomly pop in to say it.
The Devil in the White City is the tenth book I've completed from my original 2025 book list which, may I remind you, consisted of only twenty titles. I have a flickering hope of finishing three or four more from that list by the end of the year. We'll see what happens.
But to get to the actual recap: The Devil in the White City is Erik Larson's 2003 historical non-fiction book which interweaves the stories of Daniel Burnham, the chief architect of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition (aka the World's Fair), and H. H. Holmes, a cunning serial killer who lured his victims to his "Murder Castle" in Chicago, many while the World's Fair was going on from May to October of 1893.
Larson has been lauded for the novelistic style he brings to writing his factual subject matter, and The Devil in the White City is easily his most famous book. So many people have recommended it to me, and I've been meaning to read it for ages. I bought a copy back in 2018 and, as you can see in the photograph, I've even been collecting Larson's other books since then. I knew I wanted to read The Devil in the White City first, and I actually put it on my book list a couple years ago, but just didn't get to it. I was determined to finally read it this year, and my sister-in-law agreed to buddy read it with me which is sometimes just the kick in the pants I need to get started.
So what did I think? Larson's writing is very good and he definitely does have a talent for bringing what could be dry material to life. His coverage of what it took for Chicago and Burnham specifically to bring the World's Fair to fruition was actually fascinating. What Burnham managed to accomplish in just two years' time despite the physical (devastating windstorms, fires, Chicago's challenging soil) and financial (the Panic of 1893!) hardships he faced is nothing short of miraculous. Larson's handling of Dr. H. H. Holmes and his elaborate "Murder Castle" was deeply unsettling and extremely compelling.
But for all that, I felt like I was reading two separate books. I don't think Larson successfully ties his subject matter together, and when I got close to the end of the book and he threw in even more subplots like the assassination of Chicago's extraordinarily popular mayor, and a bit about Theodore Dreiser, it felt very disorienting to me. Don't get me wrong, it was all very interesting and it definitely hasn't put me off Larson as an author, but it wasn't cohesive and I'm a little surprised at just how mainstream The Devil in the White City has become. It will be very interesting as I continue to read Larson's books if The Devil in the White City will stand out for me as his best. My mom has read this one and also Dead Wake, his book about the sinking of the Lusitania, and she has said that Dead Wake is far and away the better of the two. That's probably the one I'll read next, but I'm also very curious to compare The Devil in the White City to his 2006 offering entitled Thunderstruck in which he employs the same device of interweaving two historical events.
For a history buff like me, The Devil in the White City was a good read, but at this point, I wouldn't recommend Erik Larson over say, Laura Hillenbrand or David McCullough. We'll see how I feel once I have a few more of his books under my belt.
Have you read any Erik Larson? If you've read any of his other books, did you think they were better than The Devil in the White City?
