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

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2003

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Prologue

Prologue Summary: “Aboard the Olympic”

On April 14th 1912, Burnham is enjoying the opulence of the White Star Line’s HMS Olympic, though he also suffers with gout. He and his family narrowly missed making their passage across the Atlantic on the ill-fated Titanic. He reflects nostalgically on his friend Millet, who was aboard the Titanic, and their great shared accomplishment, the World Columbian Exposition. Though world-altering, Chicago’s great fair had been blighted by death and destruction, not least a string of murders committed by a serial killer. As the book begins, the Olympic speeds onward to assist the Titanic.

Prologue Analysis

The book opens with world-leading technology steaming forward, yet afflicted with tragedy. The confluence of the lives of the Fair founders with tragedy appears almost fateful. The technological and economic progress represented by the Exposition contrasts with the antisocial machinations of a psychopath, yet there are some synergies between the men’s desire for greatness.