The Devil in the White City Book Review




The author Erik Larson has created an excellent and detailed non-fiction account of the events of the ambitious 1893 World Fair in American History. The fair was called the World's Columbian Exposition as it celebrated the 400 year anniversary of Christopher Columbus discovery of the new world. The story follows along with the famous Architects like Daniel Burnham, John Root, Louis Sullivan, Richard Hunt, Charles McKim, and landscape architect Fredrick Olmstead. The book describes the immense events that had to be overcome for the event to happen in Chicago and in time for the opening day. The goal of the Architects that were involved in the design was to create an ideal design of what a city like Chicago should be.

The story also revolves around a charming sociopath serial killer that would make the famous killer of the time Jack the Ripper look like an amateur.


I think this a wonderful account of the Architects that created an exposition that would forever change American Architecture, and is therefore an ideal book for architecture students and buffs alike. The World's Columbian Exposition is largely credited for the City Beautiful movement that swept the country and set into place master planning that tried to replicate the achievements of the White City.

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