The Devil in the White City

I finally finished reading The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson. It took me kind of awhile to get through. I really enjoyed it, but I expected to tear through it. This is in large part because everyone I know who had read it prior to when I began absolutely loved it and because the guy at Politics & Prose who sold it to me tole me he "couldn't put it down". While, like I said, I really enjoyed it, I didn't find that I couldn't put it down. In fact there were a lot of point where I found it quite easy to put down. Mostly the parts about the building of the fair that consisted of lots of facts and numbers that I wasn't all that excited by.

However, I will say I think Erik Larson does a great job of writing readable non-fiction. The book does not read exactly like a novel, but it reads much more like a novel than any other non-fiction book I have read. And since I don't usually love non-fiction, that is definitely a good thing. I like Larson's tone. I think he does a good job of creating a balance between imparting a great deal of information and telling a fascinating story. Both of these things are important parts of his presentation America's first serial killer and the World's Colombian Exhibition. And as Amy pointed out to me last night, he does a great job of conveying the importance of that time in American history. He shows so many things that were affected by the fair, both things that now exist in the day to day life of all Americans and more monumental things, like the creation of Disney World, and the prevalence of neo-classical architecture in America. He also does an amazing job of conveying how that moment in time felt to the people who lived through it. He shows how people felt like it was the culmination of human achievement thus far and how to those who witnessed and experienced the fair and that summer it felt in that instant like they were witnessing a meaningful moment in history. This is especially interesting to me because I imagine it was true, and also because I believe feeling that way is pretty rare. But from Larkin's presentation it seems that most people in and around the fair felt that way. And it's also the way I've always pictured that era, which seems a tad odd, because I don't sit around in my life and go seems like I'm experiencing something historically significant today! But it's just the way I've always thought about the end of the 19th century. Anyway, if you haven't read it yet, I wouldn't instantly move it to the top of your reading list, but I wouldn't chuck it out either, for what that's worth.