The Devil in the White City

The Devil in the White City
Cover of The Devil in the White City
Author	Erik Larson
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	History, True crime
Publisher	Crown Publishers
Publication date	2003
Media type	Print (hardcover and paperback)
Pages	447
ISBN	0-609-60844-4
OCLC	54397544

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America (Crown Publishers, ISBN 0-609-60844-4) is a 2003 non-fiction book by Erik Larson presented in a novelistic style. The book is based on real characters and events. Leonardo DiCaprio purchased the film rights in 2010.^[1]

The book is set in Chicago, circa 1893, intertwining the true tales of Daniel H. Burnham, the architect behind the 1893 World's Fair, and Dr. H. H. Holmes, the serial killer who lured his victims to their deaths in his elaborately constructed "Murder Castle."

Burnham and the architects

Daniel Burnham: the chief architect behind the World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair)
John Root: Burnham's partner
Charles B. Atwood: Burnham's head of design after Root's death
George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr.: creator of the Ferris wheel
Frank Millet
Louis Sullivan
Richard Morris Hunt
Charles McKim
Frederick Law Olmsted (designer of New York City's Central Park): landscape architect in charge of the World's Fair landscape.
George B. Post

Holmes and associates

1895 newspaper image of Dr. Henry Howard Holmes

Herman Webster Mudgett (aka Dr. H. H. Holmes): a serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their deaths. Dr. Holmes had built his "World's Fair Hotel" complete with a gas chamber, dissection table, and a crematorium to dispose of the bodies. Holmes would remove the skeletons of his victims and sell them for medical and scientific study.
Clara A. Lovering: Holmes's first wife
Myrta Z. Belknap: Holmes's second wife
Lucy Holmes: Holmes's daughter with Myrta
Georgiana Yoke: Holmes's third wife
Julia Smythe: employee and lover of Holmes; wife of Ned Connor
Ned Connor: employee of Holmes; husband of Julia Smythe
Benjamin Pietzel: business associate (and murder victim) of Holmes
Carrie Pietzel: wife of Benjamin Pietzel
Howard, Nellie and Alice Pietzel: son and two daughters(respectively) of Benjamin and Carrie Pietzel.
Frank Geyer: detective in charge of finding Pietzel's children after Holmes was jailed for fraud
Thomas W. Barlow: assistant district attorney who prosecuted Holmes

Other figures

External media
Audio
Author Erik Larson
The Devil in the White City, Weekend Edition, National Public Radio, Larson interviewed by Scott Simon, 10:01, April 5, 2003
Video
Booknotes - The Devil in the White City, C-SPAN, 58:00, September 14, 2003.

Mayor Carter Harrison, Sr.: Mayor of Chicago who was assassinated on the last day of the fair.
Patrick Prendergast: assassin who killed Mayor Harrison over his delusional belief that he helped Harrison win re-election.

Film adaptation

Leonardo DiCaprio purchased the film rights to the book in 2010; the movie is to be produced by Warner Bros., Stacey Sher and Michael Shamberg's Double Feature Films, and DiCaprio's own production company Appian Way.^[2]^[3] Writer Graham Moore is adapting the book into a screenplay.^[4]

Honors

2003 New York Times best seller (nonfiction)
2003 International Horror Guild Award (Nonfiction)
2003 San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year
2003 National Book Award (Nonfiction), finalist
2003 CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction, shortlist
2003 Great Lakes Book Award (Nonfiction), finalist
2004 Washington State Book Award
2004 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award
2004 Edgar Award (Best Fact Crime), winner
2004 Book Sense Book of the Year Honor Book, winner
2009 ALA Outstanding Books for the College Bound (History & Cultures)