Submitted by: Submitted by tkt37
Views: 10
Words: 559
Pages: 3
Category: Literature
Date Submitted: 02/12/2016 11:00 AM
Tiassa Toukou
HIST. 202
3/14/15
In Erik Larson’s non Fiction
The Devil in the White City:Murder ,Magic, and Madness at the
Fair that Changed America
Two men embark on rather two dynamic paths to achieve the
fulfillment of the desires in their live . Daniel Burnham aspired to have his name in the books
as one of the great architects of his time , he was given the opportunity to express his worth
when he was asked to head the position of chief architect for the World’s Columbian
Exposition ( Chicago World’s Fair) . Throughout the book Burnham continually expresses the
virtues of the ideal american worker , Burnham never deterred from his path in the face of
adversity and was able to orchestrate one of the most astounding marvels of his time. On the
other plate of the scale was Herman Webster Mudgett (aka. Henry Howard Holmes) , Mudgett
was by the majority’s standard one repulsive excuse for a human being: hailing from New
Hampshire, Mudgett made he was towards Chicago in search of a new feeding ground for his
heinous desire to lure people (mostly women) and take their lives . He found that in the cloud
of chaos created by the Fair he would easily fade into the peripheral of the peoples focus.
He was charming and knew how to take advantage of the weak , he was able to creep into
the crack of the individuals foundation and draw them in for the kill.
From my interpretation Larson managed to craft a story with such allegorical value while
using such acute historical detail to create an extremely intriguing novel. Based on the time in
which the story of the book took place, America was in a rather interesting situation in which
there was turbulent economic growth , the American economy was reaping the fruits of
industrialization. Millions of immigrants from Europe flooded the U.S. to get their piece of the
action, However not everyone was exactly getting their fair share of the bounty . What was ...