The Devil in the White City is a well reviewed historical non-fiction book, which is why I decided to read it. It is about the construction of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and a serial killer who used the fair to lure people, mainly young women, to their deaths. I realized not far into the book that it is not for me, which is too bad because Larson wrote the book in a novelistic style that incorporates direct quotes from historical records, which made it more interesting and easier to read, but it turns out that true crime is just not my thing.

I was discussing this book with my sister-in-law, who has also read it, and she mentioned how it feels like two books in one, and I agree. The part of the book about the Chicago World’s Fair is a somewhat dry historical account of Daniel Burnham, the lead architect of the fair who did whatever it took make sure the fair was ready to open on time. The part of the book about H. H. Holmes, the serial killer, is a somewhat salacious true crime account of how he built a labyrinth of a hotel in a prime location near the fair and used his hotel to torture and murder people. The book thankfully does not go into great detail of how he murdered his victims, but there is enough detail to make me feel sick to my stomach and question why I even read the book in the first place.

The two halves of The Devil in the White City are tenuously linked, but together show humanity’s capability of producing great beauty and hope as well as humanity’s capability of producing great depravity and hopelessness. I think true crime aficionados will eat this book up. Yes, the parts about the Chicago World’s Fair are a little dry, but still fascinating enough to make me appreciate how spectacular of an event it would have been to witness at the time. However, I cannot help but think of the Chicago World’s Fair as a monument to North American excess and waste. All that time, money and labour went into constructing something that was only ever meant to be temporary, just so that America could prove it was better at world fairs than everyone else. Insert eye roll here.