The Devil In The White City Analysis

The Devil in the White City The Devil in the White City is a historical non-fiction book written by Erik Larson that reads like a novel. The book follows two, real main characters, during the building and existence of the Chicago World’s fair. The first is an American architect named Daniel Burnham. The book follows his struggle and work to put this huge fair together, and also make it a huge profiting attraction. He faces many obstacles and internal conflict while doing so. The second is H. H. Holmes, an insane serial killer who was active during the existence of the fair. He had different businesses and practices he would use to lure women, in order to kill them and sometimes the women in their families. The book takes place in Chicago during the early 1890s, as

I enjoyed this book way more than I thought I would and do think it is a good read. I think this book gave a really unique take on the Chicago World’s fair. It was cool to see the contrast between Burnham’s parts and Holmes’. Larson also showed all of the decisions leading up to the fair and not just how it was after. There was a lot of behind the scenes included. Larson also chose to include some backstory of Holmes and his life after being caught for some of his crimes and not just how he chose to kill his victims. Larson really tells the full, and true story of the Chicago world’s fair surrounding Burnham and Holmes. The most impressive part was the incredible detail that Larson included, while keeping the story nonfiction, and historically accurate. I was able to learn about the huge amount of planning for the Chicago World’s fair and what it was like for the average visitor. I also got to learn about the serial killer H. H. Holmes, and how different crime was treated back then. Overall The Devil in the White City is the accurate story of the Chicago World’s fair that I learned a lot of information from, and would