Builder and the Beast -- The Devil in the White City

When nonfiction books take off, it's often because events depicted within are so involving and revealing that the reader is made to find themselves forgetting that they're not reading a novel -- that what's being offered up really happened. Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City not only evokes this feeling continuously, but you frequently ask yourself the question, "Why isn't this more well known?!"

In the Chicago of the early 1890's, Larson gives us the contrast of two extremely driven men - architect Daniel Burnham, who leads a force of the nation's greatest builders in an attempt to create the most memorable World's Fair exposition the world has ever seen. Burnham is a visionary, facing insurmountable obstacles of time, economics, engineering and weather in an attempt to somehow will into existence what amounts to an entire city -- and a city that must inspire the world like some never before seen utopia -- in less than two years' time.

The other man, "H.H. Holmes," is a young, charming physician, intent on building a kingdom of his own - as Holmes is transforming into a serial murder the likes of which make Jack the Ripper seem a trivial amateur by comparison. So how is it Holmes isn't the household name that the Ripper became? In the 1890s, there was no question that he was - though once you see the scope of his depravity, you'll wish you could forever put him out of your mind.

The contrast of these two men's works is unbelievably compelling and suspenseful. The details and challenges that went into realising the Fair are simply astounding in scope. One building's floor alone took five traincar loads of nails to assemble. As the Fair comes to life, notables of the era including Buffalo Bill, Susan B. Anthony, Cl\arence Darrow and Theodore Dreiser pass onto the miraculous stage that the White City becomes, unaware all the while that an impossible monster is trolling in their midst, stalking the fresh young innocents drawn to the magic of the Fair's new tomorrow.

In an era where planning to extend a mass transit line or replace an aging bridge can seem unending logjams of red tape and uncertainty, it's humbling to see what truly amazing achievements could be brought to life when the drive of a few determined souls came together with a common dream. The details and secrets of the 1893 Fair are endlessly fascinating. Larson's research is awe-inspiring. And even though he never lets us forget that each towering achievement of the Fair casts a shadow filled with unspeakable malice, incredibly he leaves you with a sense that hope and dreams remain the more powerful, enduring forces in the world. The Devil in the White City is a remarkable read.