Living in Chicago, I loved learning about the history of the city. And even just the history of the times. Larson covers so much ground about the quality of life, the economic situation of the Long Depression, and the passive-aggressive nature of Chicago vs New York and the US, through Chicago, vs Europe.

Watching the White City being built up from swampy land to a city of the future whose legacy still lives is incredible.

Of course, reading about Holmes and his elaborate steps to control, possessive, and then murder women was also fascinating. Mainly how he continued to get away with it for so long. What he did would be hard to do today, and reading about his set up and elaborate plans was morbidly interesting.