The Devil In The White City By Erik Larson

Book Analysis- The Devil in the White City

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

Burnham keeps running into problems which delay him. Holmes is content with life and begins murdering people more frequently each one increasing in brutality. Near the end of part II, Larson starts weaving the stories together. A thing I find strange is was when Larson decides to truly introduce Prendergast: he chose the middle of the book. I believe that Prendergast was lost in the rest of the story. It would have been better if he played a bigger part because the author uses Prendergast to weave his web and add diversity to his story detailing more of the world around the World’s Fair. Chapter 3 shows Prendergast’s desire for power “[he] resolved to double his own efforts to help Harrison succeed.”(Larson, 130). Much like when Larson is showing the initiative of Holmes and Burnham it seems like a positive thing. A single person can become great or they can become horrible, thus a reason to be wary of

His resources ranged from diaries to newspapers to public records. He even used actual letters written from these experiences, but this did create a bias. He never experienced it himself so he needed to see the situation through the eyes of someone else. Larson dealt with the limitations of the time such as the apparent lack of technology yet he still was able to piece together a feasible story which is fun to read. He never claimed that all the story was factual, but he dealt with his bias in the way that he was able to be able to create a semi-clearer picture than there was