Main entry:

Larson, Erik, 1954- author.

Title & Author:

The devil in the white city : murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America / Erik Larson.

Edition:

First edition.

Publication:

New York : Crown Publishers, ©2003.

Description:

xi, 447 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Notes:
Includes sections on Daniel Hudson Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Richard Morris Hunt, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 423-429) and index.
Evils imminent -- Prologue, aboard the Olympic -- Frozen music -- An awful fight -- In the white city -- Cruelty revealed -- Epilogue, the last crossing.
National Book Award Finalist, Nonfiction, 2003
Dust jacket.

Summary:

Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America's rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair's brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country's most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his "World's Fair Hotel" just west of the fairgrounds--a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium. Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while 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 lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake. The Devil in the White City draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and others. In this book the smoke, romance, and mystery of the Gilded Age come alive as never before. Erik Larson's gifts as a storyteller are magnificently displayed in this rich narrative of the master builder, the killer, and the great fair that obsessed them both.

Resources:
Sample text
Table of contents
Table of contents
Book review (H-Net)
Booknotes episode and transcript
Program air date: September 14, 2003
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description
Additional information at Google Books
Discussion guide

ISBN:

0609608444 (hardcover)
9780609608449 (hardcover)
0375725601
9780375725609
9780965711340
096571134X

Subject:

Mudgett, Herman W., 1861-1896.
Burnham, Daniel Hudson, 1846-1912.
Mudgett, Herman W. 1861-1896
Burnham, Daniel Hudson, 1861-1896.
Mudgett, Herman W.
Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1822-1903
McKim, Charles Follen, 1847-1909
Hunt, Richard Morris, 1828-1895
Sullivan, Louis H., 1856-1924
Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959
Chicago (Ill.) Weltausstellung (1893)
World's Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill.)
World's Columbian Exposition 1893 Chicago, Ill.
World's Columbian Exposition.
Weltausstellung 1893 Chicago, Ill.
Serial murderers Illinois Chicago Biography.
Serial murders Illinois Chicago Case studies.
Architects Illinois Chicago Biography.
Tueurs en série Illinois Chicago Biographies.
Meurtres en série Illinois Chicago Études de cas.
Architectes Illinois Chicago Biographies.
HISTORY United States 19th Century.
Architects.
Serial murderers.
Serial murders.
Mehrfachtäter
Mörder
Belletristische Darstellung
Criminals Chicago (Ill.) Case studies.
Exhibitions Illinois Chicago.
Chicago (Ill.) History 19th century.
Chicago (Ill.) Histoire 19e siècle.
Illinois Chicago.
Chicago, Ill.

Form/genre:

Biography
Belletristische Darstellung.
Biographies.
Case studies.
History.
True crime stories.
Récits criminels.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 231522
Call No.: T500.B2 L3 2003
Status: Available