The Devil, Marconi, and a big stinking hurricane

I've spent the last two weeks, between feedings, naps, and family walks, reading two novels by Erik Larson. Larson is best known for his novel Devil in the White City, a piece of historical nonfiction that tells the stories of one of Chicago's most famous architects and a serial killer at the World's Fair. This is, generally speaking, Larson's MO. He takes two starkly different storylines occurring at the same time in history and then weaves them together. I read Devil a year or two ago, drawn to it because it was set in Chicago and talks about Chicago history. I loved his writing and his woven storyline (a la Dickens). Thunderstruck, which I read next, tells the stories of Marconi, the (purported) inventor of wireless telegraphy, and a love-triangle gone wrong. Once again, Larson makes the history of telegraphy, and the figures involved, far more interesting than one would expect. His most recent novel, Isaac's Storm, doesn't work the woven storyline quite as much. This novel tells the story of the 1900 Galveston hurricane that leveled the city and killed 6,000 people. The story storylines are, essentially, the storm itself as Larson tracks its evolution into a killer, and the people of Galveston, especially Isaac, affected by the storm. The book was really eerie to read, especially in the wake (no pun intended) of Katrina and recent storms in New Orleans and even Galveston again. The descriptions of the wind and surging waves, families caught in houses as they pulled off their foundation and floated away, and especially of parents lifting their children above the rising waters, made my heart ache. I can't imagine going through that. The way the book is written, it's shocking that anyone survived, let alone rebuilt.

I don't know if Larson has any other novels out yet, but I highly recommend him if you like historical fiction or nonfiction. I've now moved on to another piece of historical nonfiction about Chicago: Sin in the Second City: Madams, Minister, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul, by Karen Abbott, about the brothels and "white slave trade" in Chicago in the early 1900s. I've only read the first chapter, but so far it's pretty good. It's interesting to realize how far back Chicago's "Democratic machine" goes.