The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson Book Analysis

How easy it was to disappear… An extravagant yet mysterious book written by Erik Larson. Throughout A Devil in the White City, a series of unfortunate events occurred left and right. Deep in the heart of Chicago, 2 plots concurred. Hearts shattered and lives were lost. 

A Devil in the White City begins with the Paris world fair. The buildings were constructed magnificently, especially the Eiffel Tower. This led America no choice but to envy. Because of this, America just had to top the Paris World Fair on their own. The two finest and prominent architects in Chicago were Daniel Hudson Burnham and John Wellborn Root. They were assigned the tasks of designing the world fair in Chicago, however they were given a limited amount of time. The architects decided on Jackson Park as the exposition setting because of the beautiful scenery and amazing geographical features. Over 200 buildings, islands, lagoons, bridges combined were planned to be constructed. Drawings and blueprints were always behind schedule, and the architecture team was dawdling. Money was becoming scarce, workers were discharged, homeless and jobless exposition workers roamed the dusty streets of Chicago, the architecture was disorganized and were unable to meet the deadline of the World Fair Opening Day. 

“It was so easy to disappear, so easy to deny knowledge, so very easy in the smoke and din to mask that something dark had taken root. This was Chicago, on the eve of the greatest fair in history.” Henry Mansfield Howard, Herma Webster Mudgett, Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, H. H. Holmes for short, was a man of many names and talents. With seduction and careful planning, he managed to become successful and established both a hotel building along with a pharmacy. Behind the scenes was a scheme for murder. In his basement, there contained an enormous metal box, fireproof and sound proof. Inside is where he would bring his victims to dissect, carve, and kill. He would preserve the fresh skeletons of his victims and sell them to medical schools. Almost every month, he would kill another person, using his hotel as bait. With the exposition becoming more and more popular, his hotel location proved to be excellent because it was so close to the fair. Lots of young women visiting the exposition would stay at Holme’s hotel, allowing Holmes to begin with his killing procedures. He would send poison gas to asphyxiate his guests, then dissect and take them apart. Very gruesome! This only occurred for so long… 

Just after the exposition opened to the public, the Eiffel tower competitor was still incomplete. This devious task was assigned to a man known as George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. What he planned to construct was a ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components attached to the rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, they are kept upright, usually by gravity. By the opening of the world fair in Chicago, the wheel was almost finished with only a few tests to be initiated. Gale Ferris only conducted two tests before saying the wheel was safe for passengers. Slowly, passengers trickled into the cars of the wheel. As the wheel started to move, nuts and bolts started to fall from the sky, frightening everyone. The wheel was evacuated and under inspection, and after only a short amount of time it was active again, making it the most popular attraction at the Chicago world fair, topping the Eiffel Tower. “Chicago has disappointed her enemies and astonished the world.” 

Police and detectives suddenly appeared outside Holmes’s buildings, then they abruptly entered. Inside they searched and searched, but no Holmes. Room after room, Holmes’s hotel seemed like a labyrinth, a maze. Finally, in the basement they found an unusually large rectangular box. With thick walls and a heavy door, inside the large rectangular metal box was evidence leading to Holmes’s case, and what was left behind was the footprint of a woman. This gave the police enough evidence that Holmes was trapping his victims! There, the police began their long search journey for Holmes. A man by the name of Frank Geyer was the lead investigator. Holmes made his way to Fort Worth, then up to Boston, where he was spotted and arrested. “‘I was born with the devil in me,' Holmes wrote. 'I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing.” He confessed to being the murderer of fellow Benjamin Pitzel, his assistant, and at least one hundred others; the judge sentenced him to be hanged to death. He was hanged in Philadelphia. 

The Chicago world fair contained many twists and dark turns. My DWC essay only gave a brief overview of the story itself, and undoubtedly one of the best assigned stories I have ever read.