Devil in the White City
Devil in the White City written by Erik Larson is a true story based on the building of the most important fair in the United States of America, the 1893 Columbian Exposition World’s Fair in Chicago. Erik Larson also told the story of the psychopathic murderer; H.H. Holmes used his World’s Fair Hotel as an evil castle to lure in young women who came to see the fair. The story starts off with Larson describing that Chicago won the Congressional vote to host the World’s Fair and beat out its competition New York City. In only two short years, the White City was built. The fair brought in an estimated 40 million visitors in the only six months it was open. Daniel Burnham was the chief architect of the World’s Fair. Burnham had the staggering task of hiring the best of the best engineers, architects and designers in the country. No one thought the task of building the World’s Fair in the Black City of Chicago would be accomplished given the amount of time of two years they had to build it. The successful result of the White City, the World’s Fair, changed people’s perceptions of their own cities, architects, and designers.
Erik Larson and many newspaper businesses referred to Chicago as the Black City. Chicago was known as the city where many people, mostly young women, disappeared. With the reputation of being a city as “a gigantic peepshow of utter horror, but extraordinarily to the point,” (Larson 2003, 28), many citizens did not think highly of the city. Chicago was shown as a city that was affected by many different “devils.” With a murderer on the loose during the time of the World’s Fair, unemployment rates rising, filth in the form of rats and dirt on the streets, these “devils” transformed Chicago as a city going toward the darkness. Many people visited the city of Chicago. The perception most citizens took from their experiences either awed them or terrified them, but it did not change their views that “…Chicago was a secondary city that preferred butchered
Erik Larson and many newspaper businesses referred to Chicago as the Black City. Chicago was known as the city where many people, mostly young women, disappeared. With the reputation of being a city as “a gigantic peepshow of utter horror, but extraordinarily to the point,” (Larson 2003, 28), many citizens did not think highly of the city. Chicago was shown as a city that was affected by many different “devils.” With a murderer on the loose during the time of the World’s Fair, unemployment rates rising, filth in the form of rats and dirt on the streets, these “devils” transformed Chicago as a city going toward the darkness. Many people visited the city of Chicago. The perception most citizens took from their experiences either awed them or terrified them, but it did not change their views that “…Chicago was a secondary city that preferred butchered
Cited: Larson, Erik. Devil in the White City. New York City: Crown Publishers, 2003