1. In the note "Evils Imminent," Erik Larson writes "Beneath the gore and smoke and loam, this book is about the evanescence of life, and why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging the impossible, others in the manufacture of sorrow" [xi]. What does the book reveal about "the ineluctable conflict between good and evil"? What is the essential difference between men like Daniel Burnham and Henry H. Holmes? Are they alike in any way?
2. At the end of The Devil in the White City, in Notes and Sources, Larson writes "The thing that entranced me about Chicago in the Gilded Age was the city's willingness to take on the impossible in the name of civic honor, a concept so removed from the modern psyche that two wise readers of early drafts of this book wondered why Chicago was so avid to win the world's fair in the first place" [p. 393]. What motives, in addition to "civic honor," drove Chicago to build the Fair?
3. In what ways does the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 change America? What lasting inventions and ideas did it introduce into American culture? What important figures were critically influenced by the Fair?
4. Larson writes, "The juxtaposition of pride and unfathomed evil struck me as offering powerful insights into the nature of men and their ambitions" [p. 393]. What such insights does the book offer?
5. In his speech before his wheel took on its first passengers, George Ferris "happily assured the audience that the man condemned for having ‘wheels in his head' had gotten them out of his head and into the heart of the Midway Plaisance" [p. 279]. In what way is the entire Fair an example of the power of human ingenuity, of the ability to realize the dreams of imagination?
6. What is the total picture of late nineteenth-century America that emerges from The Devil in the White City? How is that time both like and unlike contemporary America? What are the most significant differences? In what ways does that time mirror the present?
7. The White City is repeatedly referred to as a dream. The young poet Edgar Lee Masters called the Court of Honor "an inexhaustible dream of beauty" [p. 252]; Dora Root wrote "I think I should never willingly cease drifting in that dreamland" [p. 253]; Theodore Dreiser said he had been swept "into a dream from which I did not recover for months" [p. 306]; and columnist Teresa Dean found it "cruel . . . to let us dream and drift through heaven for six months, and then to take it out of our lives" [p. 335]. What accounts for the dreamlike quality of the White City? What are the positive and negative aspects of this dream?
As I was searching for info on the fair, I found a great website with lots of pictures. There are pictures of every building, the layout of the grounds, etc. I spent way too much time looking at everything. You will be amazed what they accomplished. columbus.gl.iit.edu No www at the beginning. Click on The Dream City in the left column. If you have problems let me know. There was even a Utah building with a little interesting write up. In my searching, I also found a website that listed all the world fair's, their location, and what inventions were introduced. I left it on my computer and when I came back my husband had closed it. I can't find it again. So, if anyone finds it, please send the link. It was really cool information. Out of curiosity, did anyone skip the chapters about Holmes? Just wondering if you felt like it was missing anything?
Can't wait to hear what you think!
Jen
2 comments:
Thanks for the great pick, Jen! It is always good to take a break from fiction and read a little history. Of course, for this architectural history dweeb, this book was especially fun.
In my History of American Architecture class at BYU the World's Fair of 1893 was central to the whole course. It changed the way American's thought about architecture, city planning, and landscape design. Influences from the Fair can be seen in every city in America. It was great for me to read the details of the masterminds behind this project and, of course, it is always fun to see where so many common items were first introduced!
I thought it was an interesting choice of the author to juxtapose two figures of the time whose lives surrounded the fair, but didn't necessarily overlap. At first I thought it was just a lure to get people to read his history book...you know, add a killer and up your readership. But, I really think Larson was trying to make a point about the grandeur and scope of the World's Fair project by pointing out the opposite scheming for filth and evil that was happening at the same time. Both Holmes and Burnham's 'projects' took much planning and care, but for two very different purposes.
Like the quote at the beginning, where Holmes claims he could no more keep from killing than a poet can keep from singing, I think Burnham couldn't keep from dreaming, from building, and from wanting to create what had never been created before.
I agree with Adri about the juxtaposition of the two men and I think by having their opposite in such close comparison it made their individual traits more vibrant. I think that same juxta position existed in the comparison of the White City and Holmes' "hotel". Each made the other seem more of what it was, light and hopeful, dark and evil. I loved this one- it was a great read- thanks Jen
Post a Comment