The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America/Erik Larson/447 pgs

An historical account of the difficulty involved to host/build a World's Fair and one notorious murderer who saw the fair as his personal source for manipulation and mayhem.  Daniel H. Burnham promised the world that Chicago could organize and create an exposition that rivaled the fair hosted by Paris, France in 1889.  The book tells two fascinating tales, that of H. H. Holmes, a shady businessman who was eventually convicted of several murders.  Holmes took advantage of the number of people, particularly young women, coming to Chicago for the fair.  The other is that of the incredible amount of work and the difficulties faced by the fair organizers, in particular Daniel Burnham.  The author walked a delicate balance telling the two stories.  The fair was a huge success as far as attendance and the size and scope of the fairgrounds and exhibits, but there were problems with crime and the unemployed that came to Chicago that tarnished the city's success.