Pictures of the "White City"

By Dennis D. McDonald

Thanks to 37signals’ Signal vs. Noise blog for pointing out photographs of the 1893 Columbian Exposition posted by the Chicago Tribune.

Seeing these picture brings back memories of one of my favorite “pop history” books, Devil in the White City (this links to my book review).

Here is a quote from my own review:

The entire book is fascinating. It crosses paths with other themes of American history, including electrification, architectural competitions, urban planning, mechanical engineering,  public relations, the Ferris Wheel — even Walt Disney is mentioned.

If you can think of other books that do as good and as entertaining a job in combining social history with the history of science and engineering, please let me know by commenting below!

Copyright (c) 2008 by Dennis D. McDonald

Comments

[Lisa Junker]

Devil in the White City is such a great book! So great, in fact, that I'm pretty sure I never got my copy back from the last person I loaned it to. Hmmm.

I haven't read it yet, but I've heard great things about "The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World." The concept sounds really interesting, and the reviews I've read have been really positive. I'll let you know if I do get a chance to read it!

[Dennis D. McDonald]

Lisa, Ghost Map does sound interesting. I've put it on my list of things to get from the library -- both a book and a recorded version are available. Thanks for the suggestion!

Dennis