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.
The book is set in Chicago in 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 partnerCharles B. Atwood: Burnham's head of design after Root's deathGeorge Washington Gale Ferris Jr.: inventor of the Ferris wheelFrank MilletLouis SullivanRichard Morris HuntCharles McKimFrederick Law Olmsted (designer of New York City's Central Park): landscape architect in charge of the World's Fair landscape.George B. PostSophia Hayden BennettHolmes and associates
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 have the skeletons of his victims removed and sell them for medical and scientific study.Clara A. Lovering: Holmes's first wifeMyrta Z. Belknap: Holmes's second wifeLucy Holmes: Holmes's daughter with MyrtaGeorgiana Yoke: Holmes's third wifeJulia Smythe: employee and lover of Holmes; wife of Ned ConnorNed Connor: employee of Holmes; husband of Julia SmytheEmeline Cigrand: fiancée (and murder victim) of HolmesBenjamin Pietzel: business associate (and murder victim) of HolmesCarrie Pietzel: wife of Benjamin PietzelHoward, 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 fraudThomas W. Barlow: assistant district attorney who prosecuted HolmesMayor Carter Harrison, Sr.: Mayor of Chicago who was assassinated on the last day of the fair.Patrick Prendergast: assassin who killed Mayor Harrison under the delusional belief that he had helped Harrison win re-election.Leonardo DiCaprio purchased the film rights to the book in 2010; the movie is to be produced by Paramount Pictures, Stacey Sher and Michael Shamberg's Double Feature Films, and DiCaprio's own production company Appian Way Productions. Writer Graham Moore was originally hired to adapt the book into a screenplay, but it was later reported that Billy Ray would be writing the script. Martin Scorsese will direct.
2003 New York Times best seller (nonfiction)2003 International Horror Guild Award (Nonfiction)2003 San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year2003 National Book Award (Nonfiction), finalist2003 CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction, shortlist2003 Great Lakes Book Award (Nonfiction), finalist2004 Washington State Book Award2004 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award2004 Edgar Award (Best Fact Crime), winner2004 Book Sense Book of the Year Honor Book, winner2009 ALA Outstanding Books for the College Bound (History & Cultures)
