The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

This book was in some ways like The Fountainhead come to life. It was incredible to read quotes and anecdotes from the architects of the Chicago World Fair: about their passions, their pain, their frustrations with neverending deadlocked committees and with those who sought to modify their art. I loved how each chapter ended on a cliffhanger -- really kept the pages turning. And there's just something about turn-of-the-century America that thrills the imagination. Fun book!

This bit here made me laugh out loud at the time, though it was late at night and I was hopped up on club soda and tom collins drink mix (sans alcohol...), so maybe it's not so funny. It's not profound and not very exciting, but I just imagined these folks (including the entire city council of Chicago and other fair officials) in stuffy old suits and hats at the opening of the very first Ferris Wheel, toasting eachother and carousing:

"When Ferris blew the whistle, the [forty-piece] Iowa State band [who had also boarded the wheel] launched into 'America,' and the wheel began to turn. The group made several circuits, sipping champagne and smoking cigars, then exited the wheel to the cheers of the crowd that now thronged its base." (279)

(New York: Vintage Books, 2004)