The Devil in the White City - Review

Finished reading The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson earlier this week and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I'm really starting to get into stories (both fiction and non-fiction) with a historical twist. Having real events and people tied to the stories seems to provide the work with more gravity. The historical relevance lends an aura to the novel and reading that I don't always experience when reading a completely fictitious story.

My interest in reading The Devil in the White City sprang from the fact that the book deals with a number of things that I find fascinating: American History, Chicago, and mass murderers. An eclectic mix, I know.

Larson's book explores the creation of the 1893 World's Colombian Exposition in Chicago and its chief architect and driving force, Daniel Burnham and contracts that with the construct of the "castle of death" at 63rd and Wallace by Dr. H. H. Holmes, America's first prolific mass murderer. Richly detailed, The Devil in the White City is an exhaustively researched novel that recreates a snapshot of America on the verge of the 1900s with grace and artistry. Larson's writing makes history come alive, entertaining the reader with all the little stories that made up the bigger story of the race to build the White City in Chicago.

For instance, did you know that all of the following items debuted at the 1893 World's Fair? The first zipper, Aunt Jemima's pancake mix in a box, Juicy Fruit gum, Cracker Jack, Shredded Wheat cereal, and Pabst beer - which won the blue ribbon for domestic brew, hence it forever being renamed Pabst Blue Ribbon. The fair also featured George Ferris' answer to Paris' showcase at their World's Fair, the Eiffel Tower. The Ferris Wheel was easily one of the most popular attractions at the fair, standing almost 300 feet tall and carrying over 1,450,000 paying customers, it grossed over $200,000 for the World's Fair. Its success ensured that the fair in the White City not only broke even, but actually made money.

And many historians attribute the fair for the reason alternating current was adopted in America for wiring our homes and offices for electricity, instead of the direct current method Thomas Edison and his Edison Electric Company was pushing for. Westinghouse made the cheap bid on providing electricity for the fair and they used alternating current. It worked so well it quickly caught on around the country in other developments. Labor contracts, Columbus Day, and the Pledge of Allegiance; the list of how the 1893 World's Fair affected America goes on and on.

Dr. Holmes' story also has its fascinating parts, although they are mostly of the macabre type. His castle was full of secret rooms and airtight vaults, and featured a unique design for a furnace in the basement that Holmes himself devised. The furnace was double insulated in such a manner that any gases or odors that emitted from the material being burned inside the inner furnace would be burnt up before they could escape the outer cover. A novel design to make sure no one in the surrounding area would catch the smell of burning flesh.

The strangest twist to the Holmes story has to be that he was originally arrested for faking the death of Ben Pitezel in order to claim then life insurance payout. He was never suspected of murder at any time he ran his hotel in Chicago or moved around the country afterwards running scam after scam. However, after insurance fraud investigators arrested him they discovered that he had actually killed Pitezel, but went so far as to acquire a cadaver and make it look like Pitezel. Even though the investigation of Holmes by Philadelphia detective Frank Geyer revealed that Holmes not only killed Pitezel, three of Pitezel's children, and countless women. He was only ever tried on the Ben Pitezel murder. He was immediately convicted and sentenced to death by hanging - a sentence that was swiftly administered. There never was an opportunity to bring him to trial for any of the other murders.

Larson does an admirable job of paralleling the work of Burnham to build the World's Fair and the work of Holmes, but in trying to tackle both fascinating stories at the same time, he left me wanting to know more about both. I can understand structuring things as he did, and juxtaposing the drive of Burnham to build the fair with the psychopathic ambitions of Holmes does make for a great concept for the book. However, after finishing the novel I still feel like there is a lot more Larson could have said about both men and their endeavors.

Regardless of its minor shortcomings, I highly recommend the novel. Highly detailed and exceedingly well documented for a historical work, The Devil in the White City also has the style and flourish of great storytelling. It is a fascinating book.