Have you read it?
I’m about halfway through and the author hasn’t said anything like that.
Nor can such claims be easily found at the Random House promotional pages.
If your neighbor is selling you the book that way, take him up on it, not Larson.
During the initial promotional burst for the book Larsen very clearly said it. Perhaps they finally backed off from it, I don’t know.
The Schechter book is titled Depraved: The Shocking True Story of America’s First Serial Killer (at least in the hardcover, the softcover changed it, perhaps because he did a teensy bit more research).
The documentary about it is titled HH Holmes, America’s First Serial Killer .
Someone above claimed it as well.
“Neighbors”… right…
My complaint wasn’t that the “first” serial killer might have been wrong or misleading – but that the serial killer angle was tacked on so arbitrarily. Yeah, I’ll admit it was one of the things that got me to read the book – I’m just sayin’ it was the least interesting element of the book.
Digging up an old thread.
I just finished the book. I found it to be very intriguing. The juxtaposition between the Fair and the efforts of Burnham on one side versus the depravity and horrific actions of Holmes on the other was interesting. I do agree that in some ways the fair stuff and the architecture and engineering was more interesting than the Holmes stuff. I would have liked more on the Castle - this articleactually has some interesting info, though I don’t buy the “Holmes was Jack the Ripper” angle at all.
This is the first study of Holmes I’ve read (besides Cecil’s article), so it was fascinating to hear him described as the charming and charismatic man who could calm people who came angry wanting to collect money and have them leave laughing and talking about getting the money next week. He was a smooth-talking con man with multiple aliases and a devious mind. And an utter psychopath. Totally twisted.
The Fair stuff was impressive, both for the scope of the challenge (less than 2 years to plan and build the thing, the size and scale of the buildings and grounds) as well as the complications that arose. Fun to hear Olmsted’s perspective.
I, too, would have liked more pictures. Thank you for that link. I really wanted to see pictures of the Ferris wheel, so thanks for that. It just boggles the mind - cars the size of buses.
As for the connection between the stories, you are correct that the only real connection is the historic coincidence that Holmes lived in Chicago during the time of the Fair and took advantage of the situation to lure in victims via his hotel.
Yeah, a bit challenging to write about murders that no one witnessed as if we are watching it happen. Larsen did draw upon as much information as he could from actual writings of the time, as well as comment using perspective of a modern understanding of psychopaths. Holmes was certainly the epitome of the manipulative and consciousless killer.
Interesting coincidence – I’ve finally gotten ariound to reading this book (in an audio edition, so no pictures at all). I’d heard about the Fair, and read about Holmes before, but this book treats both in more depth.
He also takes a lot of liberties – his descriptions of people’s thoughts and actions are likely enough suppositions, but in most cases he’s clearly clothing the bares bones of the historical record and the few memoirs with an invented narrative. It edges this book over towards, but not quite into, the camp of “fiction”.
Well, I think Larson made a good argument that Holmes as both killer and historical sensation were built by the existence of the Fair. Yes, a large city like Chicago can conceal crimes for some time, but the Fair bringing in tons of visitors and people wanting to take advantage of the Fair’s existence - to make it big in some business, to run cons, pick pockets, ply various trades - provided an ideal “incubator” for his evil plans. Then contrast the gleaming White City - still visible in the Museum of Science and Industry and the Art Institute - with this charming serial killer, and it’s a wonderful duality.
I agree that Larson’s books definitely stray far afield from standard historical fare, and he outright admits to hanging a storytelling narrative over the facts, using whatever evidence he can find to support it.
This is kind of amusing here in 2013.
I was kinda hoping details about Leo DiCaprio’s film adaptation had surfaced, but I guess it is still in pre-production limbo… oh well.
I read the book but was irritated because the Fair was so much more interesting than the murders. Having bits of the story artistically portioned out got on my nerves.
The writer used a similar technique in his earlier Isaac’s Storm: A Man, A Time & The Deadliest Hurricane in History. In which he claimed to have evidence to contradict part of the story told by meteorologist Isaac Cline. He paid more attention to what he thought was fascinating new information than to the storm itself. That was the Galveston Storm of 1900, still the deadliest natural disaster* in US history*. (There have been worse ones in other countries, of course.)
A Weekend in September by John Edward Weems was written in the 1950’s, when survivors were still around to be interviewed. Simple, workmanlike writing tell the story without any arty posturing.
Now I’ll use this thread to find a good book on the Chicago Fair.
Add me to the odd coincidence pile too - I just took out this book from the local library a week ago, and I have charged ahead till I’m currently at the point where the Fair has ended and a number of the unused buildings have burned down, and Mayor Harrison has been assassinated by what was the third story thread of the book - Patrick Pendergast. In fact, as far as I can tell the next (and I guess last section) has the only image of Holmes in the book.
Did we have Google Maps/Satellite in 2005? (Terraserver maybe) - it was kind of interesting seeing that there’s a Post Office now at the former location of the “Castle”, W63rd St & Wallace.
But yeah, I agree, the book could really have used more maps (sorry, I couldn’t make out a whole lot on that micro-scale Chicago map…and oddly Englewood didn’t even seem to be marked on it or the other larger scale map) and definitely could have used one or two pictures sets as typically found in historical books nowadays (for example, it would have been nice to have a picture of the legendary “Golden Doorway” of the Transportation building that was mentioned quite often in the fair sections)
Definitely agree about the maps. The Chicago overview is practically useless, and Englewood should have been prominently marked for as much attention as it garners. Instead, it’s not marked at all, and I only found it after later descriptions and eventually pinpointed it off the Midway. And it took forever to find the Fair site on the map.
Good books on the Chicago Fair:
Neil Harris, Wim de Wit, James Gilbert, and Robert W. Rydell. Grand Illusions: Chicago’s World’s Fair of 1893 Chicago Historical Society 1993
Norman Bolotin & Christine Laing. The World’s Columbian Exposition Preservation Press 1992
R. Reid Badger. The Great American Fair: The World’s Columbian Exposition and American Culture Nelson-Hall 1979
There are also reprints of the contemporary photo catalogs The Book of the Fair and Magic City.
I’ve recently been preparing a color viewbook for Chicago’s Finest Tours, which will be running some bus tours this season of both Chicago World’s Fair sites.
I read America, 1908: The Dawn of Flight, the Race to the Pole, the Invention of the Model T, and the Making of a Modern Nation by Jim Rasenberger a few weeks back. I think people who liked Larsen’s book would enjoy this one as well.