The Devil in the White City (美國學校用書) 白城魔鬼 | 拾書所

The Devil in the White City (美國學校用書) 白城魔鬼

$ 470 元 原價 595
★ 比爾蓋茲推薦書單


Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America's rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair's brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country's most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his "World's Fair Hotel" just west of the fairgrounds--a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium.
 
Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake.
 
The Devil in the White City draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and others. Erik Larson's gifts as a storyteller are magnificently displayed in this rich narrative of the master builder, the killer, and the great fair that obsessed them both.


一位是博覽會建築師,公開運籌耀眼輝煌的白城奇蹟;一位是連續殺人犯,私密打造毛骨悚然的魔鬼基地;一位是推手,一位是兇手……兩個人物,兩段故事,帶我們回到廿世紀前夕,芝加哥崛起的歷史時刻,光明與黑暗,同時上演。

1890年2月14日,美國政府宣佈芝加哥通過徵選,正式取得1893年世界博覽會的舉辦資格,令全市市民興奮不已。前一年的巴黎博覽會,代表法國的艾菲爾鐵塔在國際間出盡鋒頭,美國人自認無論在工業技術與藝術素養都與大西洋對岸不相上下,於是,1893年的芝加哥世界博覽會成了美國人要揚眉吐氣的絕佳場合。

Daniel Hudson Burnham曾與合夥人在芝加哥建造了史上第一座摩天大樓,但博覽會的籌建卻異常棘手。在距離開幕只有26個月的時間內,他必須從無到有打造一個代表美國成就的博覽會。然而,沒有合適的土地、不同派別的建築師意見不一、籌建的資金不足,這些問題都讓Daniel Hudson Burnham傷透腦筋。好不容易召集了美國建築界的黃金陣容、並募集兩萬名工人傾全力趕工,建物群外表全都漆成了白色。但就在開幕的前一週,美國遭遇史上最劇烈的經濟蕭條,還沒完全蓋好的展廳、六個月展期必須吸引的參觀人潮又該如何因應?

在芝加哥取得博覽會資格的慶祝聲中,自稱是藥劑師的H.H. Holmes來到芝加哥市荒涼的英格蘭高地區。當荒蕪的土地被劃定博覽會場地,開始大興土木,H.H. Holmes也就近蓋了一棟外表怪異、歪斜的樓房,準備在博覽會期間作為旅館對外營業,名喚World’s Fair Hotel。許多看上收費低廉而投宿、準備參觀博覽會的年輕女性,紛紛失去了蹤影。H.H. Holmes被警方逮捕時,完全不承認自己犯下連續殺人案件,但媒體統計約有兩百件失蹤 / 死亡與他有關。後人檢查這座旅館建築物,發現其中不僅有多個秘密房間,還設置了一條隱密的木頭斜坡從三樓直通地下室。更駭人的是,地下室放置著一個巨大的焚化爐,金屬拉門內隱約印著一位女性的手掌痕跡……
 

(中文版2007年8月由漫遊者文化出版)


Brand Slider