Point of View

Devil in the White City is written as a third person narrative. Erik Larson is telling two extremely interesting stories, using the fact that one works to help the other.

The reader is outside the story looking in. The reader can see the challenges as they arise and can feel the stress Burnham is feeling. With Holmes, the reader can understand how he is liked by just about everyone, and yet the reader knows he is purely evil.

Setting

The setting is the late 1880s to the mid-1890s in Chicago, Illinois. Women are for the first time, venturing away from their parents' homes to find jobs and be independent. The naïveté of these women is just what people like Holmes look for. The police are shown as ineffective since they truly have no idea what is going on in their city. People...