The Devil in the White City

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson tells an enticing story of the creation of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1883. Daniel Burnham, the fair’s executive builder and architect, encounters many difficulties along the way while constructing the intricate masterpiece, but after two long years, his vision was completed. The story throws little interesting facts at you such as the invention of the ferris wheel, and
why the Eiffel Tower was built. At the same time as the construction, another story is taking place. This one about a serial killer, H. H. Holmes, who is using the fair to lure his victims in. In the chaos of the time, it was hard to notice when one person went missing. Holmes relied on this to remain as unsuspicious as possible. “It was so easy to disappear, so easy to deny knowledge, so very easy in the smoke and din to mask that something dark had taken root.” (Larson, 12) Holmes was a charming, attractive, deceitful man and women found themselves drawn to him. Because of charges for insurance fraud, Holmes must flee the city, but is eventually caught and his murders are uncovered. 

The story is told by a speaker narrating both of the stories. Erik Larson describes the process of construction of the fair, but he tells it from Daniel Burnham’s point of view. His narration relates to the emotion that Burnham feels. “Burnham and Root had been partners and friends for eighteen years. Each knew the other’s thoughts. Each had come to rely on the other for his skills. Now Root was gone.” (Larson, 108) Larson tracks all of Burnham’s feelings and difficulties, and is telling Burnham’s story for him. He does the same for Holmes. Larson does a good job of not changing his tone between the two stories, acting differently for Holmes than Burnham. Holmes was a sick, messed up man, and it would be easy for Larson to be biased against him. The fact that he doesn’t conveys Holmes story better than if it were written completely opposing Holmes. 

The story was set in Chicago during the 1890’s. During this time period, Chicago was referred to as the Black City for the stench, garbage, and rodents that filled the streets. The fair is referred to as the White City (hence The Devil (meaning Holmes) in the White City). The fair was know to have brought the city to life. It brought thousands of people in on a daily basis, increasing the motivation of stores and storefronts to be more maintained and kept up. The world was facing a hard economic struggle during the decade, and many of the banks around the world were closing. This dramatically effected the number of people at the fair and the amount of money spent there. Though they did end up profiting enough to pay back the debts of the fairs construction and earn some revenue, the fair could have earned much more money if it were not for the economic crisis around the world at the time. 

The book has no specific age group it is aimed at, it is rather aimed more specifically towards those interested in architecture, the Chicago World’s Fair, and some mystery. This book does have higher level vocabulary and you do have to make inferences from the given material, so it would not be an ideal read for someone below and intermediate to advanced level. For the first half of the book, Larson does not explicitly say that Holmes was killing the victims, but that is something that you have to take away through inferences. Anyone who is capable of reading this book though and is interested in the main themes in the audience that Larson was targeting. 

The Devil in the White City is an extremely interesting story that many people would love to read, and this is one reason Larson told it. This story is like no other already out there, and it is not a cliché. His purpose for writing it was to inform those interested of the Chicago World’s Fair and the unknown story that went along with it. Larson is showing that Chicago could have all the art and culture and not just be a city of industrialists. The ‘white city’ represents the fair and what Chicago could be. But even through the beauty that the fair brings to the city, he shows the evil and ugliness that lurks there. This not only applies to the turn of the century in Chicago, but in every situation. There is always evil lurking in something beautiful that we must be cautious of.

As mentioned before, Larson gives hints to a bigger picture that is not revealed until later, and the reader is supposed to infer what is happening. In one example, Root, Burnham’s partner, is acting ‘tired’ and taking breaks for the whole Part I of the book. His death is sudden, and Larson's subtle hints made this event expected. Larson uses a technique throughout the book which keeps the reader interested and wanting to read more. Every chapter, he would switch between Burnham’s story and Holmes’ story. At the end of each chapter, he would leave you hanging, but instead of being able to know what happens next by continuing on, you would have to read the other story, which would also leave you hanging. It’s a continuous circle, making this book hard to put down.

Larson tells the story of the Chicago World’s Fair in a way that makes it seem like you are reading a novel. He uses the information he gathered about the subject and letters written to know what one of the characters was thinking at some point in time. Although the book was completely factual, Larson conveys the story so descriptively you feel like you are reading a historical fiction rather than a history textbook. “Hayden was discreetly driven from the park in on of the fair’s innovative English ambulances with quiet rubber tires and placed in a sanitarium for a period of enforced rest.” (Larson, 143) There were so many other ways Larson could have written this sentence such as “Hayden was driven from the park and put into a sanitarium for a period of time.” The use of descriptive language and flowing words makes this a pleasant nonfiction to read.

The Devil in the White City was an extremely interesting, entertaining read. Chicago was such a dirty, messy place, and they wanted to show what they could be. The fair gave them the perfect opportunity to do so. It gave them a chance to prove to the entire world that they had the ability to make a beautiful, ‘white’ city, and finally withdraw from the gloom and murkiness it was know for. The book teaches that not every beautiful thing can be perfect, and there is evil lurking in the shadows. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Larson’s work, and it deserves one full ride around the Ferris Wheel.