StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

Devil in the White City - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The book (devil in the white city) is about two men namely Daniel Burnham and Henry Holmes and describes the American history of 1893; Daniel Burnham was an architect of the white city and Henry Holmes was a serial killer, this book talks about American history in the gilded age both the good and the worst moments.
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER92.5% of users find it useful
Devil in the White City
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Devil in the White City"

Download file to see previous pages

Larson tries to combine the story of the 1893 Columbia exposition with a tale of an urban serial killer; he contrasts the white city which was painted white all over with the Holmes world's fair hotel which was dark which portrays good and bad. The gilded age refers to the period between1865-1901; this is the post civil war period and was characterized by economic, industrial and population expansion. This were the early days of industrial revolution where there was an expansion of infrastructure especially railway transport system.

In 1890's America was undergoing a shift from an agricultural to an industrial society, the fair was one of this progress. The construction of the 14 great buildings of the fair was a sign of unity and pride. The fair has attracted many visitors all over America and the world and it has an impact on culture and entertainment. At this time Chicago become populated by people from neighboring towns, in 1890 to 1900 the population in America increased from 62 million to 76 million people, young women migrated into the city and were employed as typewriters, weaver and also as stenographers.

Many people in Chicago would die by being hit by trains and cars and there were many homicides, crime increased and the police were without manpower to manage it. Fires also would take lives in Chicago and also other diseases like cholera, diphtheria and influenza. In the first six months of 1892 Chicago experienced nearly eight hundred homicides. Urban dwellers were faced with significant changes such as corruption in local governments, filthy streets and poor sanitation even in wealthiest sections of the townThe fair:The fair was a cultural centre in that it also included music performed by many marching bands.

The fair also changed peoples reaction to technology, visitors realized that technology was not a force to be feared and this saw America on the path forward to modernity. This story is based on the development of Chicago as an industrialized town where people migrated from other towns by train to the city to find jobs, this caused increased population in this town and also reveals the causes of deaths to people who came to the city and disappeared. Burnham was determined to make America's fair bigger than the one in France.

Larson Erik attempts to describe the American history in this novel, Holmes in his book resemble Herman Mudget who was a serial killer in Chicago. Mudget came to Chicago and worked for a pharmacist widow, when she died he took over the business and through his charming character he was able to convince young ladies and his consumers and was able to erect his own building which had secret path ways that he used to torture and kill his victims. He built a world's fair hotel which was a horrific castle with dead ending hall ways, air tight rooms, giant kilns and acid vats; through his charming and uncanny ability he would tricked policemen and his creditors, Holmes convinced mothers to leave their children under his care, creditors to give him more time and friends to allow him take life insurance policies for them.

Holmes was never detected until the close of the fair; he was executed in 1896 in Pennsylvania for killing his henchman and confessed killing 27 people.The Columbia day holiday is a

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Devil in the White City Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1528272-devil-in-the-white-city
(Devil in the White City Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words)
https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1528272-devil-in-the-white-city.
“Devil in the White City Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1528272-devil-in-the-white-city.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Devil in the White City

Henry Howard Holmes

Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Henry Howard Holmes Dr.... Henry Howard Holmes was the alias that Herman Webster Mudgett was known of.... He was one of the earliest serial killers in America whose tale is documented.... At the time of the World's Fair event held in 1893 in Chicago, Holmes had designed and built a hotel for himself with murder being the main motive of the venture....
8 Pages (2000 words) Case Study

Jacque-Louis David Compared to Sandow Birk

?New York: Phaidon; Distributed by Garden city, 1952.... ?New York: Phaidon; Distributed by Garden city, 1952.... Jaques-Louis David and Sandow Birk appear, at first blush, to be nearly as unrelated as it is possible for artists to be.... Jaques-Louis David was a French painter who was active from the end of the eighteenth to the first quarter of the nineteenth centuries (Louis-Antoine), while Sandow Birk is an American artist who has been active only in the twenty-first century (Birk)....
3 Pages (750 words) Research Paper

3 Major Events that Led to the 1963 March on Washington

The law required the African American to yield their seats to the white men if there was no vacant seat available for the white men.... Montgomery's Women Political council was an organization which was founded to work against segregation on the city buses before they started the boycott.... The Supreme court in the United States of America said that, segregation of the black and white children had detrimental effects especially on the children....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper

Satan and Dr. Faustus, overreachers in their own different ways

It is seen that Faustus makes a decision of selling his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and earthly power as well as 24 years as an additional life (Sachs and Ariel, 31).... He is an early sixteenth century scholar in Wittenburg, the German city (Gregg, 5).... From the Hebrew, destroyer, mephitz and liar, tophel, Cunning and Craft devil.... He is the devil who appears at the summoning of Faustus', as well as the devil that has the role of serving Faustus for a period of 24 years....
5 Pages (1250 words) Term Paper

The Devil in the White City

The paper "Historical Analysis of The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson" presents an overview of post-Civil War American as the background to a recounting of the true story of America's first serial killer, HH Holmes.... The dichotomy between Holmes's murders (at least 27 and maybe as many as 200) and the World Fair that was going on at the time in the same city produces a vivid picture of America that presents both its best and its worst sides.... Thus, Daniel Burnham struggles against an unforgiving landscape (swamps) and a government bureaucracy to see his dream rise above the city; and all the while Homes is building (and then secretly adapting) his torture and murder house....
5 Pages (1250 words) Book Report/Review

New Urbanism

That is the central thesis of New Urbanism, which is at its heart an attempt to move back to the city planning of an earlier time.... New Urban ideas run through the essays of Kunstler, Davis and Ryan, but despite this the three essays are… Kunstler argues that the problem is one of zoning, and that Americas real problem is consumerism replacing the traditional American dream....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper

War on the Silver Screen: (Your Phrase) in Film Title (s)

Inspired by the novel survival, it is set in an impoverished farming village in North Hebei Province in Northern China near the high wall during… This area was under Japanese occupation since year 1930's, due to a long period of being ruled the villagers in the area had adapted to tolerate the occupying devils who demanded tax inform of percentage The film traces the growing and ironic amity between Chinese villagers and two prisoners of war who by luck were deposited into their care....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

The Conditions Prior to the Storm

According to Garrow, the average income of African Americans in Birmingham was less than half of the white salary-earners; a fact that could be observed at the local steel mills (1989, p.... Such cultural or ideological concept was further strengthened with the formulation and implementation of certain ordinances in the city.... Two particular ordinances that highlight segregationist policies are Section 369 and Section 597 of the city ordinances (Birmingham's Racial Segregation Ordinances, May 1951)....
9 Pages (2250 words) Research Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us