The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

PROLOGUE-PART 1

Reading Check

1. What part of Burnham’s body bothered him during his journey? 

2. What type of “material” did Mudgett attempt to produce in an insurance fraud scheme gone wrong?  

3. Who became Burnham’s landscape architect?  

4. Who died from pneumonia in his bed?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why was Burnham, aboard the Olympic, unable to send a telegram to his friend on another ship?

2. In what way did Burnham and John Root transform the look of the Chicago skyline?

3. What was unusual about Holmes’s decision to marry Myrta Z. Belknap?

4. How did Holmes attempt to take advantage of his new father-in-law, and how did his plan fail?

Paired Resource

“The Rookery: A Natural Light Challenge”  

• This 2-minute video from the Chicago Architecture Center demonstrates how Burnham and Root worked together to design an innovative and beautiful building that overcame difficult challenges. 
• This resource connects to the theme of Magic and Mystery.  
• How does this video help you understand the work of an architect and why architecture is referred to in the book as “Frozen Music”?

PART 2

Reading Check

1. What unusual equipment did Holmes keep installed behind a locked door in his basement? 

2. What chemical did Holmes use to murder Pearl and Julia?   

3. Which structure was chosen as the centerpiece for the fair?

4. What was Burnham unable to import from Zanzibar for the 1893 World’s Fair?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why did Thomas Edison visit the site of the fair during its construction?

2. What achievement was Burnham fixated on surpassing, and who did he charge with accomplishing it for him?

3. What disaster befell the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building?

Paired Resource

“World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893”

• Chicago Architecture Center offers photos and a brief overview of the fair’s impact on Chicago.
• The article explains the Fair’s nickname of “The White City,” discusses the influence of the buildings’ designs, and connects to the theme of Magic and Mystery.
• What is the 1909 Plan of Chicago, and what is the connection to Burnham? This article references the lessons learned by Burnham in constructing the 1893 World’s Fair. What lessons might have been important, based on Larson’s text?

PART 3

Reading Check

1. Who gave the first speech at the Dedication Day of the World’s Fair?

2. To what “turn” does the title of Part 3, Chapter 6, “One Good Turn,” refer?

3. What grisly Chicago attraction did Holmes take Minnie and Nannie when Nannie arrived?

4. Where did Holmes take Anna for a “brief tour” before she left on her promised trip to New York, London, and beyond?

5. Who did the coroner’s jury order be arrested for the fifteen deaths in the Cold Storage fire?

6. What was a common cause of death for unfortunate people at the Metropole Hotel?

7. Who arrived at City Hall in Chicago, ready to inspect his future office?

8. Whose funeral unexpectedly marked the closing of the Chicago World’s Fair?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What were attendance numbers like in the days following Dedication Day, and how did they match expectations?

2. What unusual smell did guests of Holmes’s hotel notice, and how did they explain this smell away?

3. Who insisted on riding the Ferris wheel for its first revolution, and what was their assessment of the experience?

4. How did the state of the Chicago economy add to the tension of whether the World’s Fair would be a success?

5. How did Holmes murder Anna? 

6. What was the Retrenchment Committee, and how did it threaten the future of the fair?  

7. What were attendance numbers like at the close of the fair, and how did they compare to Paris’s recent World’s Fair?

8. Why did Holmes set the top floor of his hotel on fire, and what were the consequences?

9. What happened to the buildings of the World’s Fair after it closed?

PART 4

Reading Check

What was the profession of Frank Geyer, the man who became interested in learning more about H. H. Holmes? 

1. What tool did H. H. Holmes borrow from Thomas Ryves that eventually led to the discovery of some of his victims? 

2. What mark did Emeline Cigrand leave behind in the furnace? 

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How did Detective Frank Geyer go about retracing Holmes’s movement with the children throughout the Midwest?

2. What disturbing information did Mrs. Pitezel learn by reading the newspaper?  

3. Why did the city of Chicago suffer from a “feeling of humiliation” in the wake of Holmes’s murders? 

4. What was the result of Holmes’s trial and sentencing? 

Paired Resource

“The Details in ‘The Devil’”

• This essay makes strong critiques of Erik Larson’s writing choices and offers textual evidence to support its claims. (Note: This article shows bias.) 
• This essay connects to Journalism and Detective Work.
• Do you agree with Reardon’s claims about Larson’s journalistic work? How convincing did you find Larson’s response to Reardon?  

 “Allan Pinkerton’s Detective Agency”

• This article from PBS’s American Experience profiles America’s “first private eye” and the Chicago detective agency that made him a celebrity. 
• This article explains the early days of detective work in America.
• How does clever and dedicated detective work like Pinkerton’s play a part in concluding the narrative of The Devil in the White City? 

Recommended Next Reads 

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson

• This meticulously researched history of Britain’s endurance of Hitler’s year-long bombardment focuses on Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his family.
• Shared topics include historical narratives and strong key figures.         
• The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz on SuperSummary  

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

• Capote’s “non-fiction novel” about the murder of the Clutter family set the standard for a new genre that combined journalistic research with gripping storytelling.
• Shared themes include Journalism and Detective Work.
• Shared topics include murder and investigation.
• In Cold Blood on SuperSummary