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Any event that introduces to the world both Cracker Jacks and the electric chair deserves some attention and the Chicagošs Columbian Exhibition of 1893 has certainly received its fair share. The conceit embedded in that first paragraph is a fitting theme for a review of The Devil In White City, Erik Larsonšs new book that is partially about one of the defining moments of the late 19th Century and a fiendish killer who used the occasion to collect his victims. The conceit is the attempt to yoke the two stories together and it only works because both are such fascinating tales. One can see Larson being led by his research. A start is made to document the history of the fair and then he stumbles upon the amazing transformation of Daniel Burnham, a very good Chicago architect who became obsessed with the fair and eventually, by sheer force of will and brilliant maneuvering, created a complete new and temporary city within a trolley ride of downtown Chicago. In a parallel story, Larson delves into the strange world of Henry H. Holmes, who, until the beginning of the final decade of the millennium, had been a rather mild mannered and mundane murderer. Inspired by the Exposition, which was almost within site of his suburban base, he constructed a building that became a killing machine, dispatching still unknown numbers of young single girls who had come to the mid west metropolis to visit what had come to be known as The White City. As Larson switches back and forth between the two story lines, the strain of maintaining this biographical balancing act is only relieved by the bizarre nature of both characters. Burnham, a man possessed by the completion of the Exposition, ruins his health and almost loses his business in the attempt to complete what seems an impossible task. Meanwhile, Holmes seems to thrive on his fiendishly ghoulish mission, his wealth multiplying as he kills again and again. While I must admit a bias in favor of at least half of the bookšs theme (Išve always been fascinated with worlds fairs , their history and the amazing technological and cultural innovations they featured), the story of the Expošs creation could be any major event from the construction of the pyramids to Bostonšs ongoing Big Dig. Documenting such attempts to alter the face of the earth always makes great reading. And who doesnšt love a really efficient serial killer. Dr. Holmes was no less influenced by technology, having constructed within his hotel private gas chambers and human laundry chutes to dispose of bodies. Another aspect of the book that leads me to recommend it is its almost visceral success at describing the foul odors and smoke filled streets of late 19th century Chicago. Several authors have captured the chaos, filth and civil disorder of the same era in London and New York and now what was then Americašs Second City has found an writer who can faithfully deliver to Chicago what it always really wants: being considered an equal of other world class cities.
Reviewed by Rudy Franchi, April 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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