Erik Larson is a non-fiction writer whose books tell history in an entertaining way. Larson doesn't isolate a story of a man and his accomplishments; he intertwines the workings of the day into the story. He often tells the story of not just one man of the time, but two men, who alone made an impact but together show opposing sides of the world at the time.
Larson brings an event alive and with it, the history of that era. Larson's most popular book, Devil in the White City, stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for more than 3 years. His writing style is engaging and highly readable. In an interview with identitytheory.com, he said, "Where historians go wrong, the professional, academic historians is that they leave the best stories literally in the footnotes. As if they are too frivolous to tell in the actual body of a text."
Erik Larson Biography
Erik Larson was born in 1954. He graduated from the University of Pennyslvania where he studied Russian history, culture, and language, and he has a masters degree in journalism from Columbia University. Before becoming a full-time book author, Larson wrote for the Bucks County Courier Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Harper's as well as other publications.
Larson lives in Seattle with his wife and three daughters.
Erik Larson's Isaac's Storm
Larson's book Isaac's Storm was published in 1999. The book covers the Great Hurricane of 1900 in Galveston, Texas that killed more than 10,000 people. Along with the story of the weather that caused the hurricane is the story of weatherman Isaac Cline, who inaccurately predicted the hurricane's force and damage it could and would ultimately do.
When speaking to an interviewer about writing Isaac's Storm, Larson said, "But what I found with Isaac's Storm, initially and with this book also, is that for now at least, maybe I don't have a novelist's sensibility, but what I do have is a terrific ear and eye for the little stories that bring an era alive. The best way to convey those stories is in the world of non-fiction."
Erik Larson's Devil in the White City
In 2003, Larson's book The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America was published. Two men's stories are told--the architect of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and Dr. H.H. Holmes, a serial killer who terrorized and killed just blocks away from the fair.
This book became a number one best-selling book on the New York Time bestseller list. Larson was awarded the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, in 2004 for The Devil in the White City.
Erik Larson's Thunderstruck
Larson's next non-fiction book, Thunderstruck, was published in 2006. Thunderstruck tells the history of the beginnings of our telecommunication system and another darker story. The story of two men--Guglielmo Marconi, the Italian inventor of wireless telegraphy communication (the radio), and Hawley Harvey Crippen, a British murderer--are told side by side.
Thunderstruck was also a New York Times bestselling book.
Erik Larson's In the Garden of the Beasts
Larson's latest book, In the Garden of the Beasts, Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin, was published in 2011. This book details Hilter's Germany at the beginning of his reign. An American ambassador and his daughter move to Nazi Germany, where the German dictator would gain power.
Other Erik Larson Books
in 1994, Larson's book, Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public Commodities, was published. He researched how advertisers and companies get consumers' personal information and how they attempt to influence consumers' buying decision. A PBS documentary, "We Know Where You Live," was made based on the book.
In 1995, Larson's next non-fiction book, Lethal Passage: The Story of a Gun, was published. Larson studied the street violence in Baltimore, Maryland, namely the guns used by youth in crimes such as drive-by shootings.
Larson contributed to the collaborative novel Hotel Angeline with 35 other Seattle writers. The book was published in 2011.
Sources:
www.eriklarsonbooks.com
identitytheory.com
Peggy Hazelwood - Peggy Hazelwood+ is a word nerd who has worked as a reporter, proofreader, technical editor, freelance copy editor, and freelance writer ...
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