Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

I must admit that it took me a moment to realize this was not a fantasy book, but actually based on historical events that took place in Chicago.  I was very impressed with this book and really enjoyed reading it.  I am interested in reading more of Erik Larson's books since they are educational, but not a bore to read.

Devil in the White City takes place in the early 1890's in Chicago and is about the Chicago World Columbian Exposition that was put together.  We follow two main men, Daniel Burnham and Dr. H. H. Holmes.  Burnham was the main architect and director that put together the impossible task of arranging and building the World Exposition in 21 months.  With his story we see the difficult decisions  he had to make in order to get the Exposition ready and all the trials during a time of economic depression and union strikes.

Dr. Henry Holmes (his main alias) is one of the first real psychopath killers that set up his hotel/practice next to the Exposition.  During this time many young women were leaving their small hometowns in search of a more lucritive life.  They were alone and naive, an excellent target for criminals and who Homes targeted as well.  There are only nine definate kills that have been proven, but Holmes admitted to at least 27 deaths and there are others who estimate that the number was closer to 200.  No one will ever know since he was a very charming man who set up his own reality.  Iin his building he built gas chambers and a kiln.  He would get his victims to become completely dependent on him and then would suffocate them in these gas chambers with either gas or acid chemicals.  He would them either burn the bodies in the kiln he had designed or send them off to become skeletons.  During this time the medical profession was in desperate need of skeletons and were known to be grave diggers and buy bodies from people.

The Exposition was a first for many things and set a trend for the future.  There was many novelties like light bulbs, wheaties, the Ferris Wheel, and other things that were introduced and become a main part of life.  The White City become a model of what an ideal city should look like and many places used this example to design their city.  Clean sewage systems and imported water from natural springs was introduced as well.  It also set a trend for labor unions and eight hour work days, paid overtime, health coverage, ect.  This was a time when insurance companies were beginning to discover and prosecute for insurance fraud and creditors came into contact with people who would not pay they credit back.  Holmes funded his projects using credit and insurance fraud.  He was able to get away with it for many years since many people did not know how to handle that kind of situation.  So many people disappeared during this time that it took many years for people to realize what Holmes had been doing. I think this book is definately worth reading.