The Titles Significance

Holmes was always described as non human, emotionless, sinister, and pretty much devil like. The white city is an amusement park in Chicago. Holmes would use the amusement park to lure and kill his victims. So he's the devil in the white city. The meaning of the title changed for me only because I didn't know the White City was an amusement park.

A ferris wheel in the White City

About the Author of The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson.

Erik Larson is an American author. He was born in New York, raised there, and still lives there to this day. As a child, he never thought about being an author. He actually wanted to be a cartoonist. Larson would draw for hours and hours, up until high school. He met his first girlfriend, Michelle. She "shaped his destiny" by having him read more and convincing him to go to the University of Pennsylvania. While there he studied Russian language, history, and culture. He later attended the University of Columbia and got a masters in journalism. His first journalism job was for Bucks County Courier Times, but after not getting a promotion he wanted, he applied to Wall Street Journal and got hired. While there he wrote business news and tried for page one features. Years later he wrote his first book, The Naked Consumer. After that he went on to write 99 books, all mostly about history and murder. His two most popular being, In the Garden of Beasts and The Devil in the White City. I think his only influence was his love of history and mystery.