Devil in the White City, The Check Availability

Nonfiction

The Architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the 1893 Chicago World's Fair director of works who built the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who built his "World's Fair Hotel" just west of the fairgrounds. In deft prose, Larson conveys Burnham's herculean challenge to build the White City in less than 18 months. Concurrently, he describes how, in a malign parody of the achievements of the fair's builders, Holmes built his own hotel - a torture palace complete with a dissecting table, gas-chamber, and 3,000 degree crematorium. Published in 2004; 447 pages.

Includes 15 paperback copies and 1 book club guide prepared by WCPL.