"A dynamic, enveloping book. . . . Relentlessly fuses history and entertainment to give this nonfiction book
the dramtic effect of a novel. . . . It doesn't hurt that this truth is stranger than fiction."
--The New York Times
"So good, you find yourself asking how you could not know this already."
--Esquire
"Another successful exploration of American history. . . . Larson skillfully balances the grisly details with
the far-reaching implications of the World's Fair."
--USA Today
"As absorbing a piece of popular history as one will ever hope to find."
--San Francisco Chronicle
"Paints a dazzling picture of the Gilded Age and prefigure the American century to come."
--Entertainment Weekly
"A wonderfully unexpected book. . . Larson is a historian . . . with a novelist's soul."
--Chicago Sun-Times
Submitted By Publisher, March, 2004
Summary
Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of
two men--the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America's place in
the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous
research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered
history and the thrills of the best fiction.
