September 27, 2006
The Devil and the White City by Erik Larsen ::
books — tagged books, chicago, crime and history
1:27 pm
Here it is, The Devil and the White City, another in a long line of pop history books I love to read. And yes, as is the case with anything written by Simon Winchester or Mark Kurlansky, I read this book in something like three days. The speed with which I got through this was just as much a testament to my love of the pop history genre as it is to Erik Larsen’s mastery of writing within it. Which reminds me: I have this vision of the publishing industry employing armies of editors and marketing geniuses who hunt down these authors and vet them for exactly the right sort of talent and story ideas, and then run the story through an editorial machine in order to create another book that really is the same—if only in form, not subjectmatter—as all the others I’ve read. And I consume them like processed food.
But getting all that cynicism about marketing out of the way, the book was really quite gripping, and everything that all your friends said it was who talked to you about it at that last dinner party. The story is a study in contrasts, really—on the one hand you had Daniel Burnham, an accomplished yet decidedly non-Ivy-League-Educated architect with something to prove who is charged with building the World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, on the other H. H. Holmes, a serial killer trained in medicine who used his knowledge and skills in some of the most gruesome ways imaginable. What tied the two worlds together was the utter lack of rules of Chicago in the 1890’s. It was only in such an environment that you could see the extremes of both individual and societal behavior that was emblematic of pre-progressive era America.
In many ways Chicago was a pioneer city of the time, where a lack of environmental, health and safety, and business regulations allowed the owners of the Worlds Fair to construct it so quickly and without regard to the impact it would have on those building it. And the lack of law enforcement allowed a serial killer to remain undetected and act so brazenly for so long. The lawlessness of the time made me appreciate the relative safety of our current regulatory state, and the increased quality of life it has brought. But it is in that crucible of extremes that a truly great story was able to take shape. So go and enjoy it.
Related:
- The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester: review
- Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky: review
- Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky: review
- 1968 by Mark Kurlansky: review
