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For my husband’s birthday, I purchased tickets for us to go on an architectural tour based on Devil in the White City.  Jon had read it, but I had not gotten around to it.  Well today was the day of the tour and I, of course, waited til the last minute to read the book and was only halfway through the book by the time we went.  However, I did finish it tonight and feel now like I had a day full of the greatest event Chicago has ever seen. (The tour was quite interesting by the way and I would recommend it, though it did have to stretch the tie-ins to the book.)

I was very impressed with the book.  IT is written in a very conversational tone which is often lacking in non-fiction books of this nature.   I am ashamed to admit that I knew little of hte world’s fair before reading this despite the fact that I am a Chicago (suburbs) native.  Yet, now I feel, if not an expert, at least marginally more informed.  I feel like I don’t need to go into plot summary because hasn’t everyone heard of this book?  But mayhap not.  It tells the tell of the building of the White City as the Chicago Columbian Exhibition was dubbed.  Built for the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s landing, it was to rival that of the French world fair from a few years before.  It also tells the tale of the 1st serial killer in America.  The stories are interwoven and tell the tale from many different viewpoints.  What amazed me was that Burnham (who essentially ran the building of the fair) had only 27 months to design, build, and open this place.  It is truly amazing when you realize that the fair covered a square mile.  Larson really depicts what life was like back then and all the trials and tribulations that happened before the fair began.  It is an engrossing read (probably why it is still si popular despite having been published over 4 years ago.  I strongly recommend it, especially if you live in Chicago and want to get a behind the scenes look at one of the city’s claims to fame.  You won’t be disappointed.