The White Devil

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    Devil In The White City

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    The Devil in the White City is a true crime novel written by Erik Larson. The novel takes place during the late 19th century in Chicago, Illinois. The United States decided to host the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, also known as the World’s Fair, in honor of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the new world. St. Louis, New York, Washington DC, and Chicago all submitted bids to be the host city for the fair. By popular vote, Chicago was chosen to host the 1983 World’s Fair that was set to take place from May 1, 1893 to October 30, 1893. The city of Chicago was thrilled and anxious for the fair, unknowing the major issues that were about to attack the windy city. Some of these issues include building the fair from scratch,…

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    The Devil in the White City follows the exploits of two men with radically different lives, yet they still bare similarities to one another. The first is Daniel Burnham, the architect challenged with the task of making the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago stand out with an attraction to rival the Eiffel tower. The second central character, and serving as the other side of the coin to Burnham, is Dr. H.H. Holmes; a career criminal, pharmacist and serial killer who designed elaborate traps and…

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    Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City is a contribution to the remembrance of the historical significance the world’s fair had on cities and the overall American way of life. Lasting only 6 months, the fair had an impressive impact on the entire world. Placing itself in direct competition with France, who had hosted the fair a few years earlier, Chicago had America’s reputation in its hands. Larson’s novel follows the short-lived exposition highlighting not only how it came to life, but what…

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    The Devil in the White City Book Report In The Devil in the White City, the author Erik Larson tells the story of an architect and a serial killer in Chicago during the 1890’s. He tries to describe how Daniel Burnham, an architect, builds the Chicago World Fair in an innocent or white city while at the same time helps Henry Holmes, the devil in the innocent city, to satisfy his craving of power, blood, and fear. Burnham tries to give Chicago a more positive reputation, but it ends of having a…

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    “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing” (Larson 109.) In the book, The Devil in the White City, Burnham, an architect, is having many different struggles in building the World’s Fair by opening day, but after the many struggles he ends up making the fair a dreamland. At the same time, Holmes, the first serial killer, is luring young women into his hotel and killing them without getting caught;…

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    The late 1800s was a very interesting time period for Chicago. The industrialization movement as well as crime was booming. The industrialization movement in Chicago like in many U.S. countries brought a lot of work to Americans and immigrants. Yet, those who were not rich were forced to work in horrible conditions for little pay in order to stay alive. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson offers a great insight into the life of Chicago before and after the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair (or…

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    Erick Larson’s The Devil in the White City traces the period of chaos that took place in building the World’s Fair and the moment of pride that followed. Published in 2003 in New York, this book also displays the evil that worked behind all of the effort to expose America’s architecture to the world. In his book, Larson demonstrates America’s strive and desire to successfully host the 1893 World’s Fair. Larson tries to illustrate America’s stamina and endurance despite all of the troubles that…

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    Eric Larson's book, The Devil In The White City, takes place in Chicago during the Gilded age. Big business was on the rise, America was experiencing vast economic expansion, however, poverty still affected millions of Americans. Larson communicates the essential features of the Gilded age through his novel by showing the struggle that the architects and investors faced to make the world fair a success in the struggling economy, while also using the story of H.H Holmes as an analogy to depict…

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    The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Transmuted America is a 2003 non-fiction book by Erik Larson. Mr. Larson relishes to embroider the past. So he relentlessly fuses history and regalement to give this nonfiction book the dramatic effect of a novel, consummate with abundant cross-cutting and foreshadowing. Mundanely these might be alarming tactics, but in the case of this material they do the artifice. Mr. Larson has indicted a dynamic, enveloping book filled…

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    The great city of Chicago is a unique, but mysterious metropolis like no other, complete with its fair share of tourist attractions, tall skyscrapers, and murder. It became the perfect place for a World's Fair. The great thought of such an event was sparked under the spirit of American patriotism. The Devil in the White City describes in great detail the birth of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, along with a second plot revealing the twisted mind of a serial killer. For that reason, this book…

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