“The Devil in the White City” by Erik Larson – Fair of the New World

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Short Summary

Erik Larson has a knack for bringing history to life through his meticulously-researched books, and in The Devil in the White City, he takes us to 1890s Chicago, as it prepares to launch its own World Fair. However grandiose the plan to “out-Eiffel Eiffel” might be, it is rife with unpredictable challenges and complications, some of them deadly. Meanwhile, a now-notorious serial killer is busy setting up shop, using the fair and the booming city as his own hunting ground.

Erik Larson Brings Old Chicago to Life

When looking at the big American cities now, no matter what opinion one might hold of them, it cannot be denied that they were ultimately the result of grandiose engineering, landscaping and architectural feats. It becomes easy to forget that in a not-so-distant past, just over a hundred years, many of these American cities were still young, largely untouched and ripe for development, and that’s the sort of Chicago Erik Larson takes us to in The Devil in the White City.

The book takes us to the start of the 1890s and sets the stage by discussing some of the events which, back then, had shaken the world. Most notable was the Paris exposition, especially for a marvellous and seemingly impossible twist of architecture by a certain Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, showcasing the country’s creative might and guaranteeing it ever-lasting prominence, at least as a tourist attraction.

With the four hundredth anniversary of Christopher Columbus‘ discovery of America right around the corner, all the bigwigs in the United States decided it was their turn to put on a grandiose fair unlike any other. As a matter of fact, their intent was to eclipse what had been achieved in Paris recently, and to this end the brightest and most prominent minds (at least in regards to urban construction) were brought together.

While those people were extremely hard at work, dealing not only with a slew of terrifying complications, appalling weather conditions, worker strikes and massive accidents, but also their own declining health, another element was settling in Chicago. This element was H. H. Holmes, a charming young doctor who saw in the upcoming World Fair an untold amount of potential.

Holmes, however, had a sinister purpose in mind, one people would fail to uncover for a tragically long amount of time. As it is now known, H. H. Holmes was America’s first officially-recorded serial killer, their own Jack the Ripper figure. He won the confidence of others like few others could, and preyed mercilessly on the young, vulnerable women who were flocking to Chicago, without any real plans other than the hope for a better, more exciting life. This is his story and that of his victims, and they are just as deep a part of Chicago history as the World Fair itself.

A Monumentally-Impossible Achievement in The Devil in the White City

With all of our modern constructions techniques and chemical knowledge, it’s easy to take our ability to build large-scale constructions for granted. There are methods and standards for everything nowadays, not to mention computers to help with even the most complex and daunting of calculations. It’s easy to forget that these are modern tools and conveniences… not so long ago, forays into the unknown and seemingly impossible were fairly commonplace.

One of the first things Erik Larson does in The Devil in the White City is give a good sense of just how immense of an undertaking the city of Chicago had placed on its shoulders. What they were going to build would be much more than your typical fair, with entire districts being selected to erect monumental and jaw-dropping buildings, to the point where most people needed about two weeks of daily visits to experience all the fair had to offer.

What’s more, Larson slowly builds up this impression in the reader’s eye that the task before the main directors of the fair was an impossible one, especially as he makes us increasingly privy to the construction methods and standards of old. In addition, the landscape and soil of Chicago prove to be massive challenges in themselves, and that’s not even touching on the human aspect of it. Getting tens of thousands of people ranked high and low to cooperate with each other in spite of personal interests is a little more than most can handle.

As Larson details the creation of the fair from its earliest conceptual stages all the way to the finalization of its construction, he takes the opportunity to acquaint us with some of the bigger and smaller players alike. Those include Frederick Olmstead, Thomas Edison, Buffalo Bill, Daniel Hudson Burnham, and Louis Sullivan, just to mention a few. He takes us into the minds and lives of great architects, landscapers and engineers, while also shining the light on some of the little people whom history remembers for playing their parts in defying the odds.

Personally, I found this look at the world as it was only a little over a hundred years ago nothing less than fascinating. Erik Larson has obviously done his research, and he brings many quotes from people, books and newspapers which show us not only how people lived and spoke, but also how they thought, what they valued, and how they perceived the world around them. It’s the kind of window into the past which makes it easy to visualize it all.

The American Ripper

With the “White City” being the exposition built for the World Fair (it was settled that the fair’s many buildings would be painted white), the devil in the book’s title refers to an infamous figure whose reign of terror shortly followed that of Jack the Ripper. The concept of serial killers wasn’t all that well-known nor understood back then (I suppose it isn’t all that much better now), which made it easy for America’s first official serial killer to ply his trade.

H. H. Holmes, back then a young doctor looking to establish himself in Chicago, saw in the impending World Fair an opportunity unlike any other. Even while it was under construction, news of it was spreading, and Chicago’s growing glamour was attracting many people in search for a better life… more particularly, young and vulnerable women who had only ever known sheltered lives.

Holmes himself was a real charmer was described by many people back then, and had no problem finding work as a pharmacist, and slowly working his way up the ladder to build a drab-looking hotel only a short way from Jackson Park, one of the Fair’s most prominent attractions. Along the way, he hired many workers whom he never paid, and took out innumerable loans which creditors were never able to collect on.

While most books focusing on H. H. Holmes do so in a traditional way, in The Devil in the White City Erik Larson skillfully weaves his macabre tale into the backdrop which ended up being crucial to understanding how his reign of terror could have gone unnoticed as it had. By showing us the kind of spirit which reigned in the city at the time, the idea that people wouldn’t ask themselves too many questions about his strange architectural choices nor the sudden disappearance of women from his hotel didn’t seem all that outlandish.

As much as possible, Larson tries to decipher before us how Holmes managed to do what he did, how he manipulated the people and the world around to an impressively-despicable degree to get what he wanted. If nothing else, it makes for a fascinating journey inside the mind of a man who, in many ways, is more akin to beast than anything else.

The Final Verdict

To conclude, The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is an exceptionally-detailed, thoroughly-researched, highly-engaging and profoundly-educational look at a short and special period in Chicago’s history, as well as the main players participating in it… both the good and the bad. It’s a story of triumph before the impossible, as much as it is a tale of the dark depths the human soul can sink to.

If you’re interested in the history of the Chicago World Fair, H. H. Holmes, or are simply in search of a powerful history book that can take you back a hundred years to a fascinating world gone-by, then I strongly urge you to give this book a read; it feels as if there’s something for everyone in it.

Erik Larson

Erik Larson is an American author of non-fiction and journalist whose works touch on the more morbid and practical side of life. The Devil in the White City, for instance, is an exploration of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and the infamous crimes perpetrated by the serial killer H.H. Holmes, In the Garden of Beasts, looks into the first American ambassador to Nazi Germany, William E. Dodd, and The Splendid and the Vile, chronicling The Blitz of Britain through Churchill’s eyes.