Devil In The White City Essay

Erik Larson researched profusely, to create the literary nonfiction novel, and developing a movie, Devil in the White City, published and copyrighted in 2003. The book is entirely based on the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. The book set in Chicago through 1890-93, and then, during the latter part of the book, in Philadelphia 1895. This book follows two main plots, each pertaining its own main character. One plot follows Daniel Burnham, the architecture lead and main visionary of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. The other plot follows H. H. Holmes, a serial killer, who became America’s first serial killer, paving the way for some to sadly follow, who was utterly and completely mad, being a killer and all. Using the Fair’s guests and young, vulnerable

During the Fair’s building, workers came from all over America in hope that they could find a job in the Black city, in building of the White City [referring to the name of Chicago before and after the Fair, the Black City, of crime and corruption, verse the White city, Chicago during the Fair, in that all the buildings had been white. While both were still unsafe, they varied in levels of dangerousness, oddly enough the Evil and Good, Black and White, made one think that the White City was safer than the Black, however, it was not]. The people migrating came for jobs, and while some found them, many came all that way for nothing. Another migration that occurred came from the needs of the Fair while it was open, an example being Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and while it was not officially a part of the Fair, it did pay a major role during its opening. The immigrants came because of the demand of the Fair’s different themes, one being the Streets of Cairo, which demanded the need for Egyptians to work the fair to create this theme. Also, immigrants came to work in other parts of the fair or to come see the fair and stay in America to find work elsewhere. While the exact intent of these immigrants was uncertain, it is most likely that this was the case for