HIST 100: Engineering The Past

Features of the fair

by 1 Comment

I think the biggest issue during this time frame in America was the economy. “On Tuesday a large bank failed in Kansas City.” (pg108) When banks can not sustain themselves anymore, it is usually tied to how the economy is doing. With less people saving money, the banks have to give out more money than they take in, also people stop paying on the loans they might of taken out.  Also because of the economy going into a depression, “There was labor unrest.”(108) Labor unions gained alot of ground during this era in history. Fighting for fair wages and 8 hour work shifts. During the battle for better wages lots of people would go on strike i.e. not working/not making money.  Also seemed like Chicago was just overall dirty. “No one had forgotten how in 1885, fouled water had ignited an outbreak of cholera and typhoid that killed 10% of the city’s population.”(109)

 

I think that Larson decided to intertwine the 2 stories because he wanted to sell more books. While some people might find the building of the Chicago World Fair very interesting. The story of how “the first serial killer” used the World Fair to lure and attract beautiful women to there death is a much better selling point.

First reflection on the fair

by Leave a Comment

So far in Devil in the White City, the issue seems to be dirtiness, crime, illness, and general disorderliness from overpopulation in a city without the manpower to find order yet. The very first line “How easy it was to disappear:” creates a very dark mood from the beginning. On page 28, it reads “In poor neighborhoods garbage mounded in alleys and overflowed giant trash boxes that became banquet halls for rats and blue bottle flies. Billions of flies. The corpses of dogs, cats, and horses often remained where they fell.” Root married a woman who was sick. Page twelve states “Anonymous death came early and often…And there was murder…Men shot women, women shot men, and children shot each other by accident.” It is clear that although the city brought opportunity and experience, it clearly brought danger and despair too.

 

I think Larson wants to intertwine the fair with Holmes because in the midst of the fair, it was easy for people to disappear. Even easier than normal. It brought even more people in as victims, and it is a hunting ground for criminals. As Major McClaughtry states on page 122 “….the authorities should be prepared to meet and deal with the greatest congregation of criminals that ever yet met in this country.”