To whom this book may come across, I am a seventeen year old senior in high school. While this book was mandatory to read for a college credit course in english, by no means was it not pleasurable to read. The amount of time I’ve spent reading this book and analyzing each word as if it were my own is countless. As I began to realize my obsession with the past of American construction, I began to notice how much different we were then as well. I have to go far as saying there was no hope as of protecting women as they were murdered left and right by the hands of our first serial killer H. H. Holmes but what he was fond of- power. While I personally don't think he was Jack the Ripper as well, he was an evil being who didn't get a harsh enough punishment for the sins he committed on Chicago soil. Not many people have the guts or the passion to do what he did and I think God for that but even one serial killer in eternity causes generations of fear. Furthermore on the topic of construction- Burnham and Root were our main characters and leaders that did everything to prove America as the leading country to Paris, which Chicago turned out to be. For that reason I have nothing but respect for the two men who made everyone's dreams a reality as it brought new inventions, goals and needed risk takers to America. Personally, I would suggest this book to any reader over the age of sixteen as it is graphic in details of certain inhumane acts. But, if I had a chance to read this book all over again as a new reader I would do it in a heartbeat.

I am not the biggest fan of non-fiction but I would rate this book 3/5 stars due to the story telling aspects of Erik Larsons writing styles. The parts I liked about this book were Holmes chapters, I found it interesting looking into the mind of a serial killer and other ways of how he scammed the ones around him. Many parts of his chapters almost seemed like fiction, for example when Emeline's foot print was etched into the vault door probably from the acid covering the room. Another aspect I liked about the book was when the Worlds Fair was actually taking place and people were describing the exhibits and sights they saw. The fair sounded larger than life, and I did not know so many influential people were at the fair such as Hellen Keller and Susan B. Anthony. With the descriptions of the Ferris wheel, the Court of Honor, and the food at the fair, it felt like I was actually there.

The parts of the book that I did not find that interesting were Burnham's chapters talking about creating the landscape and the structures of the buildings for the fair. To me they went into extreme detail of the construction of buildings that I was just not interested in. But overall I found the book interesting on how little time they had to build the fair and the resources they had. This is why I would give The Devil in the White City a 3/5 stars.

I had read this twenty years ago, and pick It up again. Since then, I ordered 3 more copies for friends. For ME, it was the planning and building of the Chicago's World's Fair, all the more challenging because of the soil. The engineering and architectural advances developed to secure the foundations , etc satisfied those interests, but how I had forgotten the serial murderer who defrauded and scammed many in his path to secure whatever necessary to satisfy his sadistic needs. Larson's writing is dazzling, and his broad research considerable. Turn off the TV and read it....

This book caught my attention because it was about the Chicago's Worlds Fair of 1893. I have always wondered what it would be like to attend one of those fairs so thought this was a good way to learn more about it. Then I saw it was also about America's first recorded serial killer H.H. Holmes and I thought this may interesting as well. Even though this was a non-fiction book I thought parts of it read just like a novel. I guess I mean to say that it was not just all restated facts or dry reading like a report would be. While I enjoyed the book there were a few parts that were a little slow to me. Some of the descriptions of the politics behind the World's Fair were a little long for me, but it was not fault of the author. I just was not as interested in those parts. I did like all how the author told us of a number of things that we still have to day that were debuted at the fair: shredded wheat cereal, the Ferris wheel, juicy fruit gum as well as the famous people that were a part of creating the fair: Frank Lloyd Wright, Walt's Disney's father, and the man who built the Biltmore estate. It was also interesting to read about all the statistics from the fair, from the people that attended to the money earned. All the information about H.H. Holmes was very interesting to me. For example how he swindled so many people out of money, how he pulled off a number of scams as well as the horrible killings he did. The descriptions of these was not gruesome, just facts. I also liked how the author would go back and forth between the two stories he was writing about. The ending of the book was very fitting as the author tied up all the loose ends. I have other books by this author and am looking forward to reading them.