April in the White City

Hey, hey, hey friends. We’re back and troubleshooting some very interesting challenges we never expected to face! How does one record an amateur podcast from different cities? During a global pandemic? Where you’re not allowed to leave your house?

You improvise!

We’re still here, we’re reading more than ever, and we’re writing a lot of anxious poetry. AND we’re thinking a lot about YOU – hoping you’re staying safe, healthy, and most importantly HOME.

This month, we’re reading The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson – a tale of great triumph and great evil during the Chicago World’s Fair. Why are you listening to us blather on, then? Get reading!

Description: Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book’s categorization to be sure that ‘The Devil in the White City’ is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair’s construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. 

Burnham’s challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous “White City” around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair’s incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison. 

The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World’s Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims. 

Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson’s skillful writing. – John Moe

Image and description courtesy of Goodreads.com