Devil in the White City

Several years ago I had a friend come up to me because he knew I liked to read.  He was a fellow coach like me so I was surprised when he handed me a 'history' book.  He told me that it was a great book and he knew I'd love it.  I'm ashamed to say that I took the book and put it in a drawer in my desk at work.

A few months later, I ran across the book again and took it back to my friend.  I told him that I didn't have time to read it and that I wanted to give it back in case I lost it.

Fast forward about ten years.  I was about to teach about the Gilded Age in my APUSH class and I wanted to read a book about the time period.  I did a little research on a few websites and I kept coming across 'Devil in the White City'.  I remembered how good my buddy said it was, so I decided to give it a try.

He was right.  It was an amazing book.  Larson is a wonderful historian and a great writer.  I was hook from the first chapter on.  He did a beautiful job of telling the story of the Gilded Age and how the World's Expo in Chicago really changed America.  It was one of the most fascinating stories that I've read.  Just about all of the 'key figures' of the Gilded Age were mentioned in the book and had some type of role in the Expo.  It was a very well put together story of this event in US history. 

Not only was this a great history book, but Larson also told a great story about a murderer who was lose in the streets of Chicago.  He made it seem real.  There were many nights when reading right before bed that I would have a few nightmares from his descriptive writing!  

Great book.  Great read.  Larson has a few other books that I look forward to reading.  As my buddy tried to get me to read this many years ago, I encourage you to pick it up and read it!