I read another Larson book - "Thunderstruck". I've liked Larson's books - a novel-like telling of historical events, mixing a few together. "Devil in the White City" covered a series of murders in Chicago along with the World's Fair being planned to showcase the coming of age of Chicago.
Thunderstruck covers a murder-mystery in London, and the history of wireless communication (the Marconi story) at the turn of the last century. Larson does a good job of reminding us of what "magic" wireless communication actually is - hard to remember in the WIFI and Bluetooth generation.
What was astounding to me was how Marconi did so much without having a clue as to the physics of radio communication. His trials, all very public, worked but almost by chance and by golly. As the experimental evidence accumulated, he found that there were much cheaper and reliable methods than what he was trying (huge, powerful and dangerous transmitters).
The murder mystery follows a meek doctor and his overbearing wanna-be actress wife across a couple of continents.
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