Devil in White City the Thesis

America's sprawling territories makes it easy for people to leave their families and connections, making it easier to kill or be killed. On one hand, the inventions of the Fair and the belief in commercialism and industry makes spectacle possible in a way that is not easily replicated anywhere else, Eiffel Tower aside. More so than anywhere else, the belief in newness and self-creation seems to be a kind of religion in America. Chicago would recreate itself, and so would Holmes. Science would set America free, leaving older primitive cultures to curiosity cabinets and freak shows, and science would give Holmes the tools to create the perfect murders, and then to profit by selling the remains, letting nothing go to waste in this little 'business' he was running.For both Holmes and Chicago, eradication of the 'dark city' beneath the image of a white facade was the essence of the American Dream.

Works Cited

Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness New York: Crown,

Erik Larson, the Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness, (New York: Crown, 2003), p.4.

Larson, p.4

Larson, p.62

Larson, 198

Larson, p.36….....