Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

You’ll notice that I don’t read that much non-fiction. This one was a recommendation as the October book of the month from AM820. You would think as a CSI junkie I would read more crime stories too. However, in my industry, I get more details on horrific things than I care to remember and many are details I would love to forget ever learning. Larson does a wonderful job of tempering the horrid details by using the documents of the time which considered some readers to have “tender feelings” and reported accordingly. The information on the building and administration of the fair would seem boring if it hadn’t been interspersed with the details of the serial killer. At that time, the term psychopath was just being invented and the only serial killer of record was Jack the Ripper. It was hard to remember that this was a history and my husband was sure it was fiction. However, the sources are well documented and as a history it is interesting, intriguing and informative. I loved the history of Ferris’s wheel and the side marketing by Buffalo Bill. I didn’t realize that the mayor of Chicago had been assassinated during the 1893 World’s Fair. I wouldn’t have picked this on my own but I’m glad I read it.