Candy B. (candieb) reviewed on 11/2/2008 + 239 more book reviews

It took me 2 weeks to get through this book. Mainly because it's been crazy in my life lately, but also because this is, in some ways, a dry book. I was fascinated by the architecture and building practices of the time. The history of foundations in the Chicago area, the time/effort/labor it took, all that stuff interested me. BUT it did seem to drag on and on at times. The Holmes connection wasn't really connected, it happened at the same time and I think the fair only allowed him to get away with it because of the large number of people and craziness that went down around there. I wish we had heard more of the Holmes story and a little less of the fair. They were inter-woven, yes, but I think they deserved equal time.

Having said that, it is a good book, a bit tedious, definitely not a beach read. It did make me go look up more information and pictures about the fair. I always knew we had one there back then, but I didn't really know much about it. The whole project seems huge and frankly, amazing, for the time. Impressive.

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