The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2003

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Part 3, Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 3: “In the White City”

Part 3, Chapter 10 Summary: “At Last”

On June 21st, Ferris rode his wheel to the sounds of a marching band. Despite this success, safety concerns persisted.

Part 3, Chapter 11 Summary: “Rising Wave”

Crowds of people arrived, including Archduke Frank Ferdinand, Woodrow Wilson, and Teddy Roosevelt. The police and medics at the fair were kept busy. Hellen Keller met Frank Haven Hall, who had invented a Braille machine. The wheel swiftly became the main attraction. The Chicago economy was struggling and two businessmen committed suicide at the Metropole on the same day. The city wondered what it would do once the dream was over.

Part 3, Chapter 12 Summary: “Independence Day”

On July 4th, Holmes and the sisters watched fireworks designed by Millet. Promising them the European tour, the following day Holmes took Anna on a tour of his hotel.

Part 3, Chapters 10-12 Analysis

Larson builds tension in these chapters by focusing first on the safety concerns surrounding Ferris’ wheel, and then on the two suicides at the Metropole. With the economic security of the city floundering, this phase of the book finishes with the inevitable fatal hotel tour for Anna and then Minnie Williams. Larson plays on the sense of danger in their situation to illustrate the sense of powerlessness and fear felt by the bankers and businessmen of the day. As usual for Holmes, murder accompanies a national holiday. If he was an “American archetype” as Larson suggests, Holmes represents the threat and fear against which American heroes pit themselves and sometimes prevail. The insecurity felt at a national level finds expression in microcosm in the readers’ anticipation of yet more murders.