The Devil in The White City, Murder, Magic, and
Madness at the Fair That Changed America
Published in Vintage Books, a Division of
Random House Inc., 2004
Erik Larson's "The Devil
in The White City" is a non-fiction book that tells the true life stories
of two men who worked in Chicago in the late 19th century. Geography and gender are
about all that these men shared in common.
Daniel Burnham was a leading
architect and city planner of his day, largely credited with being the mastermind and driving
force behind Chicago's bid to host an exposition commemorating the 400th
anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in North America.
Chicago had a lot to prove in
hosting the World's Columbian Exposition, which became known as the 1893 Chicago
World's Fair. Until then, the city was famous as a hog producer and was considered something of a backwater. As Larson writes:
Failure was unthinkable. If the fair failed, Burnham knew, the nation's honour would be tarnished, Chicago humiliated, and his own firm dealt a crushing blow. Everywhere Burnham turned there was someone - a friend, an editor, a fellow club member - telling him that the nation expected something tremendous out of this fair. And expected it in record time....The fair would also have to make a profit.
"The Devil in The White
City" also tells the chilling tale of a doctor and businessman by the name
of H.H. Holmes, who earned the dubious distinction of being one of America's
first documented serial killers. Holmes created a house of horrors just blocks
from the site of the Chicago World's Fair and committed dozens of murders right
under the noses of customers, friends, neighbours, passersby and the police. He
was able to avoid detection for years because of the newness of this type of
crime, the lack of investigative resources and Holmes' inherent charm, likeability
and skill at manipulating others.
Both Burnham and Holmes
possessed powerful egos and towering ambitions; the former harnessed his
talents for good in pursuit of the highest forms of artistic expression and
human achievement while the latter devoted his life to orchestrating acts of fraud
and evil. Larson weaves the lives of both men into a captivating narrative that
spans the years leading up to and immediately following the fair.
What I found particularly
fascinating about this book is the process by which the fair sprang into being. Burnham, along with his fellow architects, landscape
designers, construction workers and participating vendors essentially created a mini
city from wasteland on the banks of Lake Michigan over a 26 month period.
Blueprints, work schedules and deadlines were fast-tracked in a race against
the clock to complete construction on time.
The odds seemed stacked
against meeting this impossible deadline. A deepening recession, poor weather
conditions, engineering and logistical problems, labour strife and other challenges
threatened to halt production and derail the opening of the fair. That Burnham
and fellow organizers managed to prevail is a testament to their tenacity and will to succeed. In the end, despite setbacks and cost
overruns that tested the mettle of the fair's organizers, Chicago hosted
a world-class fair, which attracted millions of visitors from around the world. The fair introduced the latest
technologies, product innovations and concepts, such as the
Ferris Wheel, Juicy Fruit, Shredded Wheat, Cracker Jack popcorn and Edison's Kinetoscope. The fair became a role
model for fairs held around the world for the next century.
In documenting Burnham's challenges in producing the fair, and recreating the setting of the multiple murders that took place at the hands of Holmes, Larson creates an "edge of your seat" drama from start to finish and does a great job keeping readers in suspense. This book has it all: real-life drama, larger than life personalities, a quick pace and enough facts and statistics to satisfy any armchair history buff.
My only quibble with
"The Devil in The White City" is the lack of photographs of the main
personalities and of the fair itself. A few more photos would have been a complement to this tale that is so expertly told. But a quick Google
search will yield many photos of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, along with reams of information covering this epic slice of American history in the
Gilded Age.
.jpeg)
