I got introduced to David Grann due to killers of the flower moon. I wanted similar genres so that’s how I discovered this book.
This had to be one of the most densest books I have read in all time. I bought it in January and just finished this. It felt a bargain though as two books in one. One about planning, marketing and execution of an urban development. As well as one of the craziest and delusional killers of American history.
I was a fan of Burnham. I thought he was efficient leader and had a great vision. I wanted him to cross paths with Holmes! I felt like the other architects were also like we gotta get in our bags our names are on the line. I really liked how this book painted Chicago. I felt with them finding out they got the worlds fair, building the Ferris wheel, root’s wedding and funeral, and the Buffalo bill show bringing in the biggest crowds!
I felt the opening with burnham being on the Olympic we knew the painter was on the titanic was so sad!
Now Holmes was highly insane. Yet his debts were his downfall was crazy. He just thought he could keep getting away with it. He was out here stealing wives. You feel bad about the statistic of all the young women who were lost in Chicago during that time. I think what scared me the most was his big furnace and that poor girl’s footprint in the vault. I did know most of his story before on the morbid podcast. But I felt it was quite definitive in Holmes story. Im glad he got caught. I sort of expected more with his hotel.
By the end of the book I started to appreciate the world’s fair. All its accomplishments and what came of it. The people coming together to make something great. All that it did for urban development. Chicago must be phenomenal.
by moneysingh300
40 Comments
I directed a long-form improvised play in 2013 called World’s Fair, inspired by this book.
I picked up this book to read about Holmes. Ended up finding that part boring and being fascinated about architecture and urban planning. Very unexpected!
I enjoyed the book but I do agree with some criticism that the two topics, H.H. Holmes and The World Fair, >!really didn’t have anything to do with each other except that both happened in Chicago around the same time. Because Larson focused on each topic in alternating chapters (kind of like duel POV books) I thought he would draw some kind of connection towards the end, but no. It kind of felt like someone took two books and spliced one into the other. !<
I agree with you that Larson did a great job of painting the excitement and the monumental achievement of the fair. Having visited the city a few times, it was really fun to learn about the historical aspect of the city. Larson does a great job of writing about historical events almost like a novel instead of a text book.
Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts, Dead Wake and The Splendid and the Vile are also fine books. Reading his latest, The Demon of Unrest, this summer, led me to read Gone With the Wind for the first time.
It’s been awhile since I read the book, but I remember the contrast between the Fair’s celebration of cultures and peoples & the bleak darkness of Holmes.
When I had this as assigned reading for a class I ended up skipping every architecture chapter (which I never do) just to learn about the murder victims.
Unfortunately, the Holmes portions are bad history. He almost entirely takes Holmes at his word for events that most historians agree didn’t happen.
The podcast Morbid does a great series on Holmes.
It’s funny because I read this book because I read a lot of true crime, but I basically remember it as a chronicling of the Worlds Fair haha. Any time I think about the book it’s a detail like about Buffalo Bill joining up with Susan B. Anthony to have the fair open on Sunday, or about how the zipper was exhibited for the first time, or how turtle soup was very popular at the time, and not anything about Holmes. I really appreciated all the history.
This is the best book I read this year. I loved it!!
Larson cannot compare to Grann in terms of storytelling and structuring information to make it readable and accessible, I suggest you read Grann’s other books and longform articles (I especially love the one about the giant squid).
Don’t mind me if this is an unpopular opinion, but I hated this book. The purple prose and dialogue had me rolling my eyes. I probably just don’t like the author’s style.
The serial killer side of the story is mostly fiction. It’s a strange book.
When I read this book I felt like Larson probably wrote a book strictly about the World’s Fair, but the publisher thought that was boring and told him to spice it up with some stuff about Holmes. I expected at some point that the two would coincide in a major way, but they really didn’t other than “these two things happened at the same time”. I would have been fine with a book about the fair, or a book about Holmes, but what I got was like somebody shoehorned two completely unrelated stories together in a way that felt very awkward and forced.
I really love the worlds fair bit but hates the Holmes bits… perhaps because I can’t stand true crime, but I felt it was so crass to make up Death scenes and describe the killer’s arousal. Gross af
I hated this book. It’s basically two completely unrelated books in one. There’s no real connection between the killer and the fair other than proximity.
By the time I was halfway through the book, I was very aware I was reading two unrelated books simultaneously.
I assumed that there was going to be a convergence that would eventually bring the two stories together, but it never happened.
It was exactly as frustrating as I would have expected reading two books by alternating chapters would be
I am currently less than 100 pages from finishing this book. I go back and forth on my opinion of it. Overall not a fan of the writing style. Sometimes I’m enjoying the fair stuff and other times I’m annoyed that it’s not more about Holmes like I thought it was. Overall it’s keeping me interested enough to finish it at least.
It’s tons better than the book I read before it though – Crime and Punishment. Ugh.
A great book
I’m still at the build up of the World’s Fair part, All the wheelings and dealings.Yikes!
First Erik Larson book I read, now I can say I have read them all! Great book
I read this book by first reading only the chapters on Holmes and years later once I moved to Chicago, only the chapters on the world fair / Burnham et al.
I love this book and especially loved visiting Chicago after reading it. I don’t think the two stories are totally disconnected as many here are commenting; they illustrate both the best and worst of growing industrialization and urbanization–wondrous new technologies that seem almost magical, but also alienation, anonymity, and changing social structures.
For another great book featuring a worlds fair, try The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.
I have tried 3 diffrent times to read this book and I just cant make it though it. every single time that book got to any type of plot point you get 2 sentences of plot then it slides back into being a very dry history text book. maybe the book gets better the further into it you get but. I dont think i ever made it to the half way point and still managed to get two book reports done on it back in school so its good for that.
First Larson book I ever read. Loved it and have enjoyed his others ever since. His books read like thrillers but they’re non-fiction. Awesome!
I started reading it for the serial killer true crime. I kept reading it for the Ferris Wheel drama.
I ended up on a ghost tour of Chicago led by a guy who was also really into this book and it was an awesome experience. I liked this book far more than I should have for someone who has almost zero interest in history.
I didn’t find the serial killer portion boring, but the architecture and event planning was the part that I enjoyed the most.
It was an ok book for me. It seemed like Larson really wanted to write a book about the fair, but someone made him tack on all the stuff with Holmes. It really shows in the writing his enthusiasm for the spectacle of the fair, but there’s almost none of that in the Holmes sections.
For those who have never been to the Southside of Chicago where the fair happened, go. The Museum of Science and Industry is the only building left standing from the fair (it was the palace of the fine arts) but the park is still there.
I read this because I wanted to learn more about Holmes. This book felt like the author was technically paid to write about Holmes (and delivered) but his passion was the World’s Fair. I didn’t enjoy it.
I also enjoyed Isaac’s Storm about the devastating hurricane that demolished Galveston. I believe that it is still the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. History.
Yes, this book was way off base from what I expected but I enjoyed it.
If you want a better version of this book (at least, in my opinion), I’d highly recommend “Destiny of the Republic…” by Candice Millard. It connects all the characters flawlessly and really captures the wholeness of the time. Reminded me of Erik Larson’s work but felt more cohesive
Too bad most of the Holmes section is complete bullshit.
Ive read everything he has written, loved them, but did not much care for the last two despite being a huge civil war and ww2 buff. Perhaps all the other stuff I knew near nothing about. Made it more exciting.
Pretty much every Erik Larson book is good, but DitWC is just his most well-known.
I felt so bad for Frederick Olmsted.
I wish I knew how to add a photo to a comment lol. I live in Chicago and drove by the exact location where the murder hotel was and wish I could send it in here! Loved the book!
I too read DITWHC after finishing KOTFM. Really enjoyed the first and was promptly disappointed by the second.
Would it be possible to send me the chapters Holnes is in/talked about in because I’m on reading it for him honestly and the other stuff doesn’t really interest me…