The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
Registered by 
bookczuk
of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA on 12/17/2008
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
bookczuk of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA on 12/17/2008 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
Extra copy of this book. Here's a previous journal note I wrote on another copy:
Chilling- absolutely chilling. I have learned that Erik Larson can make history read like a novel, whether it is the story of a killer hurricane (Isaac's Storm) or the tale of these two men. There were times when I felt I couldn't read more, and just when I felt there was too much horror, Larson would switch to the Fair. It was particularly grim to read this while the BTK trial was going on. Creepy.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America's rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair's brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country's most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his "World's Fair Hotel" just west of the fairgrounds - a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium. Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake." The Devil in the White City draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and others. In this book the smoke, romance, and mystery of the Gilded Age come alive as never before.
Chilling- absolutely chilling. I have learned that Erik Larson can make history read like a novel, whether it is the story of a killer hurricane (Isaac's Storm) or the tale of these two men. There were times when I felt I couldn't read more, and just when I felt there was too much horror, Larson would switch to the Fair. It was particularly grim to read this while the BTK trial was going on. Creepy.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America's rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair's brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country's most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his "World's Fair Hotel" just west of the fairgrounds - a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium. Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake." The Devil in the White City draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and others. In this book the smoke, romance, and mystery of the Gilded Age come alive as never before.
Journal Entry 2 by bookczuk at Bagel Cafe On Folly And Harborview, James Island in Charleston, South Carolina USA on Friday, December 19, 2008
bookczuk at Bagel Cafe On Folly And Harborview, James Island in Charleston, South Carolina USA on Friday, December 19, 2008
Released 15 yrs ago (12/18/2008 UTC) at Bagel Cafe On Folly And Harborview, James Island in Charleston, South Carolina USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
To the finder of this book:
Hello and congratulations! You have not only found yourself a good book, but a whole community of booklovers dedicated to sharing books with each other and the world at large. I hope you'll stick around a bit and get to know BookCrossing --maybe even make a journal entry on this book. You may choose to remain anonymous or to join (its free!) And if you do choose to join, I hope you'll consider using me, bookczuk, as your referring member. Feel free to read and keep this book, or to pass it on to a friend or even set it out "in the wild" for someone else to find like you did. If you do choose to join and journal, then you can watch the book as it travels- You'll be alerted by email each time someone makes another journal entry. It's all confidential (you're known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your e-mail address), free, and spam-free. Happy reading!
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To the finder of this book:
Hello and congratulations! You have not only found yourself a good book, but a whole community of booklovers dedicated to sharing books with each other and the world at large. I hope you'll stick around a bit and get to know BookCrossing --maybe even make a journal entry on this book. You may choose to remain anonymous or to join (its free!) And if you do choose to join, I hope you'll consider using me, bookczuk, as your referring member. Feel free to read and keep this book, or to pass it on to a friend or even set it out "in the wild" for someone else to find like you did. If you do choose to join and journal, then you can watch the book as it travels- You'll be alerted by email each time someone makes another journal entry. It's all confidential (you're known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your e-mail address), free, and spam-free. Happy reading!
PS And if you find yourself liking BookCrossing, Charleston has an active group of BookCrossers who meet monthly (second Sunday of the month) at various spots in the Tri-county area. Come join us! For more information, see our yahoo group here! Be on the lookout for other books left in the "Wild"!
