The Devil In The White City Book Report

This passage occurred after Dr. H. H. Holmes had to explain the whereabouts of Emeline Cigrand, a young woman he had proposed to. When fiercely question by Mrs. Lawrence, one of Holmes 's tenants and a friend of Emeline’s, he swiftly replies that she is gone to be married in secret and produces a cheaply printed leaflet announcing her engagement to Robert E. Phelps. Larson 's purpose in this passage is to display the poor level of security that people felt in Chicago at the time, the little faith they had in the police force as well as the impersonal feelings they had toward fellow Chicagoans. Larson uses the repetition of the words “no,” and “not,” when depicting the reaction from both his tenants and friends/family of Emeline’s after her sudden disappearance to connect the passage to one of the overall themes of The Devil in the White City- modernity and anonymity.

The Chicago World’s Fair, one of America’s most compelling historical events, spurred an era of innovative discoveries and life-changing inventions. The fair brought forward a bright and hopeful future for America; however, there is just as much darkness as there is light and wonder. In the non-fiction novel, The Devil in the White City, architect Daniel Burnham and serial killer H. H. Holmes are the perfect representation of the light and dark displayed in Chicago. Erik Larson uses positive and negative tone, juxtaposition, and imagery to express that despite the brightness and newfound wonder brought on by the fair, darkness lurks around the city in the form of murder, which at first, went unnoticed.

In Erik Larson’s novel The Devil in the White City takes place during the Gilded Age. During this period of time everything appears good and golden on the outside when in reality everything was full of corruption. In the novel, the author takes the reader to the city of Chicago, where the city is “swelled “in population causing the city to expand in all “available directions” (Larson 44). As Chicago became the “second most populous [city] in the nation after New York” there was an urge that city show off to the world and the nation of how great it was through the Chicago World’s Fair (Larson 44). The Chicago World’s Fair was an opportunity for the city to come together and create event so spectacular to shock the world. However, as Chicago prepared to awe people with this extravagant fair the city faced skepticism on weather or not issues of urbanization, sanitation, and crime would be fixed in time for the World’s Fair.

The Chicago World’s Fair continues to be one of America’s defining moments. This is where America proved to the world they had grown up and were able to hold their own. Erik Larson eloquently illustrates the entire fair in little black words on paper. Although he was not alive during this event, Larson is able to reconstruct the story with factual events; he created twists to keep you ensnared into the story. He carefully crafted H.H. Holmes to express what a lethal psychopath the man truly was, yet at the same time, he actualized Daniel Burnham into an amazing architect who became overwhelmed with the mass he took on. I feel like the story did not work the best together, but I did understand why the

When did people start getting accused of being witches and wizards from their neighbors, family members, or friends? Why would someone accuse others of being witches? All the questions are asked and examined by Emerson Baker. The author of The Devil in Great Island is Emerson W. Baker. Although, he goes by his nickname “Tad”. Baker went to Bate college as an undergraduate where he got introduces to his first history class about Northern New England by James Leamon. James is a mentor at Bate College and now is friends with Baker. He is a historian and archaeologists that teaches history at Salem State College in Salem, Massachusetts. The reason why Baker wrote this book was because he think that the past should be accessible to the public. Baker

The Chicago World Fair stirred many emotions in this great time of industrialization, but not only was Chicago shining in the spotlight from the fair, it was also promoting something much more sinister, this dark enclosing spotlight shined directly on H.H Holmes. Burnham the leader of the World Fair and H. H Holmes the notorious serial killer, are the two main characters in this novel that Erik Larson uses the balance between light and dark between these two’s personalities. In the novel The Devil in the White City Erik Larson uses Imagery, paradox, and alliteration to show the balance between the light and dark in the ever growing city of Chicago.

The juxtaposition of two opposing stories is enough to get anyone’s head spinning. Comparing the glamorous production of the Chicago World Fair to the ominous destruction and killing caused by H.H. Holmes in the background is all the more interesting. Erik Larson’s 2003 nonfiction novel does just that. One would never think to relate murder to art until after reading this book. In The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson uses figurative language, imagery, and juxtaposition to create a vivid illustration of the contrast between good and evil in Chicago in 1893.

The Devil In The White City had many plot lines that took place in Chicago around 1893 at the World's Fair. The first plot line focuses mainly on Daniel Burnham constructing the World's Fair with his partner John Root. It tells a story of struggle for the men, how they had such a hard time constructing the large Farris wheel, to having to open unfinished, then having trouble getting attendance up. Then the struggle is over for the two guys for a short amount of time. Not long after they gather up just enough money to pay off their debts, the Fair had to shut down, as the mayor of Chicago had been assassinated, honestly a more positive reputation for Chicago.

Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is a nonfiction novel that takes is based around true events surrounding the building of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, a monumental event that holds great prestige, not unlike hosting the Olympics or Super Bowl today. The creation of the Chicago World’s Fair was designed to celebrate the discovery of america by Columbus, as well as to show the world that Chicago had recovered from the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which destroyed most of the city. This bid to host the World’s Fair in America followed the great success of the 1889 French Exposition in Paris, where the Eiffel Tower, built to be a temporary landmark, stood as a monument to French beauty and sophistication.

In _The White Scourge_, Neil Foley uses a wealth of archival materials and oral histories to illuminate the construction and reconstruction of whiteness and the connection of this whiteness to power. Focusing largely on cotton culture in central Texas, Foley 's book deconstructs whiteness through a new and detailed analysis of race, class, and gender. The most intriguing aspect of this book is its comparison of the impact of whiteness on various ethno-racial classes and how each struggled in relation to the other to develop a meaningful existence. _The White Scourge_ shows the pathology of a racial system that continues to produce both material poverty and poverty of spirit. The users ' mentality develops in such a way that everyone -- even those who By insisting on their Spanish blood and the absence of any African blood, some Mexicans were able to claim whiteness and purchase land. Whiteness was thus inscribed in Texas law as the precondition for the rights of both citizenship and land ownership. This construction of whiteness separated white Texans from slaves and laborers of such "mongrel" groups as African Americans and Mexicans. Chapter Two, " 'The Little Brown Man in Gringo Land," details the impact of the legalization of Mexican labor and the relaxing of the Immigration Act of 1917 on farm labor and tenancy in central Texas. Large numbers of Mexicans in central Texas replaced African American and Anglo American tenants and sharecroppers, exacerbating tensions among the remaining white tenants. There was a fear that the mixing of white tenants and Mexicans would produce genetically inferior "seed stocks." The discussion of immigration raises questions of who is American. Immigration sustained whiteness, because it allowed farmers and businessmen to import cheap labor, thereby keeping existing laborers and tenants in poverty. Poor whites were unable to see their

Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City is a nonfiction novel compiling a variety of sources to tell the story of Chicago circa 1893. A symbol of American exceptionalism, Chicago’s Columbian Exposition shaped the city tremendously -- whilst harboring a far more nebulous and sinister truth. Larson uses this setting to make a statement about the White and Black City, an elucidation upon the nature of the Gilded Age. Changing ideals and an evolving society made urban America a crucible for both atrocity and ingenuity, madness and brilliance. He uses two famously dedicated men to embody these characteristics, their divergence only revealing their parallels. Larson’s novel doesn’t just focus on these men, it involves a multitude of secondary characters and tangent plot lines to bring to light the

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

Erik Larson writes “Beneath the gore and smoke and loom, this book is about the evanescence of life, and why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging in the impossible, others in the manufacture of sorrow”(Larson xi). In the book The Devil and the White City, Erik Larson tells a story of 2 very determined men, Daniel Burnham and H. Holmes, using their talents and determination to create good results, but also bad results; one being a very successful and good spirited architect, the other being a witty evil serial killer. It reveals how in every good act or intention, there is some kind of evil, and also the other way around. Erik Larson explores the underlying difference between good and evil, while telling 2 tales of Daniel Burnham, and Henry H. Holmes

Although the city of Chicago is usually associated with well-known historical events, such as the Chicago Fire for example, this wonderful city can also be attributed with hosting two unique and significant historical events—the World’s Fair of 1893 and the establishment of the original Field Museum in 1921. In addition to being held as an event to celebrate Christopher Columbus and the discovery of the “new world” in 1492, the Chicago World’s Fair—also commonly referred to as the World’s Columbian Exposition—was also an opportunity to celebrate art as a whole and to allow for inventors all around the globe to showcase their new devices and art.

The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 was an event that as a whole, showed off the world's cultures, ideas and innovations. The Chicago World’s Fair brought the all of the world to one location, sparking a new wave of enthusiasm for a better future in America. The economic boom that followed the fair brought continued life to a growing America. Industrially, the fair influenced mass production and urbanization as new products and ideas made the American way of life enjoyable. The Military might displayed at the fair started the U.S movement to bigger, better and more accurate weapons. The Chicago World’s Fair by its conclusion, laid the foundation for a prosperous America industrially,economically and military