Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson

20 reviews

foxowl2005's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexism

ottolee's review against another edition

dark informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Cultural appropriation

oceanwriter's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

3.0

Though this book has caught my eye in bookstores, I went into it somewhat blindly. I knew it involved H.H. Holmes, but I didn’t anticipate everything else it included. 

 

Rich with Chicago history, this book discusses the lives of H.H. Holmes and Daniel H. Burnham with a large focus on the World’s Fair. 

 

Honestly… this was a weird mix with only a slight element connecting the two along with the overall setting of Chicago. While, yes, I did find the book interesting, I was also overwhelmed with the amount of information coming at me. This was very much two separate books with one being more built on fact and the other built on a lot of speculation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Racism, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

kodi_rae's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.0

I often find nonfiction books harder to read. Even with ones with topics that really interest me, I find my mind wandering. So I was pleasantly surprised at how much this book sucked me in, however I would have personally liked more pictures interspersed as well to get a better sense of people and place. It does seem like the author might have taken some liberties with pieces of the story, so keep that in mind when reading. And the lack of any sort of modern-day critique of Christopher Columbus, Wild Bill Cody’s show, and the myriad use of Native Americans and other people of color left much to be desired. Despite these grievances, I still found it to be interesting and wanting to learn more. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Blood, Excrement, Dementia, Abortion, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism

dobermaier's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Racism, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

bookycnidaria's review against another edition

dark funny informative sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Racism, Dementia, Murder, and Classism

psdarlin's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Kidnapping, and Colonisation

Minor: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

alicelalicon's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Murder

eliya's review against another edition

dark funny informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

this took me f o r e v e r to read 
i started on sept 7th and MAN did it slow me down. took me 11h 46m to read and i was not very motivated to read it, but once you get in the groove it reads like gossip. 

some people don’t recommend doing the audiobook and reading at the same time but i honestly do recommend it. there are some differences in the wording, some paragraphs added or taken out here and there, but it felt like i got the full recounting. 

the author is very clever in the way he kind of leaves little foreshadowing clues - toward the end i think i was a little over the “that was… until” type of wording from him though. omnipresent in the most educated way lol. felt very much like i was living it // a work of fiction rather than an amalgamation of random facts here and there. 

really enjoyed learning about the chicago fair, crazy how many things were just accepted because of the time. i would not have like to be apart of that time lol. 

i made so many notes reading this lol there were so many fun facts that felt so important i’m glad - really glad - i read this but MAN i’m also glad it’s over 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual content and Terminal illness

alagasianflame's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

As one who was more interested in H. H. Holmes than architecture history, let me say the high rating is largely due to the fact that Larson manages to make committees and ledgers equally as fascinating as a man who built his own murder castle without anyone noticing. This is accomplished by the extensive backgrounds Larson lays out for practically every major player involved in the designing and building of the Fair. At the beginning, these winding expositions seem extraneous and, at times I’ll admit, perhaps even a little dull, but they serve as a foundation upon which is built the later trials and tribulations of the Fair’s designers, much of which was apparently caused by interpersonal strife and not, necessarily, pure financial or physical deterrents. By turning flat facts into tragic or triumphant events in the personal lives of the men (and occasional woman) involved, they come alive and make this tale something more engaging than a dusty history text book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, and Colonisation