After reading through the first part of “Devil in the White City”, I believe that the greatest problem facing America in the 1880s and 1890s was the overpopulation of big cities and the increasing influx of people into places like Chicago. When cities reach their carrying capacities, problems such as high costs of living, disease, and homelessness arise. The book also talks about a change in the morality of the city, where nightclubs and brothels were becoming the social norm. Along with these problems came crime and death.  As Larson says, “Anonymous death came early and often” (12) which really served to set the mood for a book focused on a serial killer. I believe that when Larson refers to the “old world” he is speaking of a time of higher morals, where the majority of these problems didn’t exist, or at least weren’t very prevalent in society.

In my opinion, Larson chooses to intertwine the story of the fair and Holmes because the fair is the perfect scene for a murder. With thousands of people coming and going every day, it would be hard to detect when somebody goes missing – which bodes well for Holmes. The fair also attracted a melting pot of different types of people, giving Holmes a larger variety of targets.

After reading parts of this book, and taking the standpoint that this is about a serial killer. I have noticed that the most significant issue to me is the fair and the vastly over populated streets of Chicago. These two questions go hand in hand, the way I see it the fair was an amazing time where new ideas were becoming known. There were many people flooding the streets not only in Chicago but coming to the United States and staying. It could be looked at one of the best things to happen for Chicago since during this time they had to win a bid over other cities to host the fair. Also, I believe that since so many people came overseas it was a huge amount of people and not enough space. If you look at big cities now like L.A, they are overpopulated which causes high prices of living and even much worst a growing homeless population. Same thing happened in Chicago; too many people with no place to stay or go, which leads me into how the fair and Holmes goes hand in hand.

Larson intertwines the fair and the serial killer Holmes because of a few reasons. First off with so many people coming to Chicago from other countries and other areas in the United States it was easy to go missing without a lot of people knowing. Also in the book it states “Holmes’s new idea was to turn his building into a hotel for visitors to the World’s Columbian Exposition” (Larson 85). Holmes had this idea that seemed legit to the visitors, which ultimately ended their lives. It is a pretty simple way to incorporate Holmes with the fair. With that being said it’s easy to tie these two questions together. So many people flooding into Holmes’s hunting grounds and needing a place to stay since it was so crowded. It lead to a bigger issue than anyone could have ever expected and is why Larson intertwined these two together.

Near the end of this section of the reading, Erik Larson writes of the “turmoil and grief engulf[ing] Chicago.” “The old world,” he notes, “was passing” (121-22). Based on what you’ve read so far, what do you think was the most significant issue or tension in the United States in the 1880s and 1890s, and why? Cite evidence from the book to support your choice.

I think the most significant issue in the United States in the 1880 and 1890s was becoming organized enough to prosper and control such rapid urbanization of cities throughout the United States. Everything and everywhere seemed to be moving so fast that it was an extremely chaotic time for workers, business, city government and politics. This can be seen in the way the H.H Holmes takes advantage of construction workers, “Holmes cast himself as a demanding contractor. As workers came to him for their wages, he berated them for doing shoddy work and refused to pay them, even if the work was perfect. They quit, or he fired them. He recruited others to replace them and treated these workers the same way” (67). Since nothing was organized it was easy for him to continue his scams with others who had no knowledge of his past or work standards.

Why do you think Larson has chosen to intertwine the story of the fair with that of Holmes?

I think it shows just how unorganized everything really was. With so much going on all around and little to no resource or structure to control such fast growth it allowed people to take advantage of the system for their own means, be they good or bad.