The Devil in the White City
A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America
by Erik Larson
ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
âAs absorbing a piece of popular history as one will ever hope to find.â âSan 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 men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized Americaâs rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fairâs brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the countryâs 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 âWorldâs Fair Hotelâ just west of the fairgroundsâa 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 the enchantment of the Guilded Age, 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. Erik Larsonâs 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.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
February 10, 2004 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781400076314
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781400076314
- File size: 10684 KB
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- ATOS Level: 9.2
- LexileÂŽ Measure: 1170
- Interest Level: 9-12(UG)
- Text Difficulty: 8-9
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Formats
- Kindle Book
- OverDrive Read
- EPUB ebook
subjects
Languages
- English
Levels
- ATOS Level:9.2
- LexileÂŽ Measure:1170
- Interest Level:9-12(UG)
- Text Difficulty:8-9
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