The Devil In The White City Sparknotes

Ali Humbrecht

Honors 3110

Dr. Pethel

A Book Review of:

Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America. New York: Random House, Inc., 2003. 388 Pages.

If asked to picture late 19th century Chicago, one may describe an urbanizing, industrializing and rapidly growing city; most do not think of murder. The Devil in the White City is an enthralling, creative nonfiction novel which takes the reader on a journey throughout the years surrounding Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair, “the greatest event in the history of the country since the Civil War” at that point in time (5). Author Erik Larson goes back and forth between the stories of murderer Dr. H. H. Holmes and architect Daniel H. Burnham, who

never meet, creating a complex but fluid story. Larson’s chosen style for the book highlights each of the characters’ stories - Burnham’s story of the building of the White City and Holmes’ story of finding the Devil in himself; like Holmes himself said, he “was born with the devil in [him]” (1). Burnham’s project brought thousands of workers and visitors to the city, an influx which enabled Holmes to become a serial killer. The contrast between Holmes and Burnham in each chapter highlights the reoccurring theme of sanity vs. insanity and the similarities between the two. There are many physical similarities between Holmes and characters such as Burnham, Olmsted and Harrison. Their physical similarities emphasizes their internal similarities, like their efficiency, organization and ability to persuade, which shows that both the sane and the insane can possess similar attributes. Holmes himself embodies this theme, too. Holmes’ eyes showed gentleness and safety while his actions, like the way he touches women, show danger. Holmes’ actions show how sanity can sometimes seem to coincide with insanity.
The novel began with the debate of who was to host the exposition. Contenders were Washington DC and New York City, but the people of Chicago were eventually able to persuade Congress to pick their city. The battle between the cities highlighted the rapid growth of America’s cities during this time and the desire to show splendor in order to prove that one’s city was the greatest of all cities. Chicago’s goal was to show that it was just as cultured and important as DC or New York. Most of the families in Chicago made their wealth from slaughterhouses, which was not the most respectable way to get rich. Chicago yearned to show that it was not just a dirty place and that it had a unique culture by hosting the World’s Fair. While Chicago did get the fair and did become a powerful city, it is still debatable whether or not the World’s Fair proved Chicago to be a clean, cultural place.
The colossal task of designing and building the fair grounds was given to the architectural firm of Burnham and Root.

After six months of debate, Burnham settled on hosting the event in Jackson Park in Chicago’s South Side and began designing and building for the exposition, which they only had two and a half years to do. Burnham had a difficult time finding reputable architects, but he eventually found a team of men to do the job. The Devil in the White City emphasizes the sexist nature of this era. The World’s Fair team was mainly male, with a few exceptions of underpaid females. At one point, Burnham sends one of the female architects to an asylum because she has an argument with another organizer. Also, women were so drawn to Chicago “by the prospect of living on their own,” only to meet their doom at the hands of fire, crime or Holmes (6). These events, along with others, show the culture that allowed men to be aggressive and disrespectful toward

women.
Despite a numerous amount of setbacks, workers worked incredibly hard and fast in order to complete the job.

Workers were able to make the grounds presentable just one month before opening day. Acting as a counterpart for Paris’ Eiffel Tower, George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr.’s Ferris Wheel astounded and captivated fairgoers. This amazing feat was a symbol for American pride and nationalism and was built in order to trump the Eiffel Tower. Through accomplishments like these, the US was able to show that it was a technological and architectural power equal to the countries of Europe. On opening day, however, there was still six months worth of work that needed to be finished. Workers were present throughout the duration of the exposition, which provided an incredible amount of relief for poor families of this time. However, after the fair was through, “ten thousand construction workers… returned to a world without jobs,” production fell and new rail construction all but stopped

(323).
In the mean time, at the edge of the fairgrounds, Dr. H. H. Holmes had been constructing his “Murder Castle,” which was also a hotel. Holmes used his hotel to lure victims in. It is said that Holmes killed about 200 people, most of them being young women. The theme of anonymity is evident at this part. Chicago became bigger and less personal, which made it hard to regulate the population and investigate or know when someone went missing. The anonymity of the city protected Holmes in a way.
When looking at the composition of this book, the book was an easy and fluid read that required minimal background knowledge. Larson does a superb job of defining words and phrases that would otherwise be unknown. He does take advantage of the alternating chapters; Larson uses Burnham’s chapters to bombard the reader with historical facts about The World’s Fair and Chicago and uses Holmes’ chapters to further develop Holmes’ story. These two stories compliment each other and make the story much more well-rounded.