1. What surprised you most about this book?
I was most surprised by the planning. There was all the planning into the World’s fair, houses and garden and events, and also the planning that went into Holmes house and murders. He may at times seem to have murdered indiscriminately, but he had a plan behind each murder.
2. Why was it so important to have the fair in Chicago? Do you think anyone considered the negative impact it could have?
It was important to have the fair in Chicago because it gave Chicago prestige. Chicago was a relatively new city and was a city of innovation, but they were not recognized by much of the world. The fair gave them recognition. I think the negative consequences were considered, the subsequent unemployment especially. What no one counted on was the panic of 1893 which made it impossible for men to get work after the fair.
3. Who was more powerful- Burnham or Holmes?
Were they alike in any way?
Burnham was more powerful because he commanded so many people and held the jobs of so many people in his hands. Holmes was powerful because of his magnetism and murders, but Burnham was more powerful because of the sheer scale of his projects. They were alike in that they were both strong, forward thinking and convincing, however they were also very different, Holmes was an evil killer and Burnham was a mild mannered architect.
4. How was Holmes able to change his identity so easily/often?
Holmes was able to change his identity so often because there was no data bases for those things and no way to check up on fake identities. Today, there are computers and licenses for identification. Another reason is there was little communication between police departments. They couldn’t quickly send descriptions, pictures or known aliases, so many people often fell through the cracks.
5. Why is there such animosity between the architects?
One reason was there was animosity between the architects because they were jealous of each other. Especially jealous were architects like Louis Sullivan. Another reason there was animosity was because their visions for the fair sometimes didn’t mesh.
6. What did Holmes look for in women and why?
Holmes looked for a few key factors in women- vulnerability, being forbidden, and money. He liked women who were, for all intents and purposes, alone in Chicago and therefore vulnerable, he also liked women like Julia, who were married and couldn’t chase after him, wanting to get married. There was always the money of course.
7. How successful would the fair have been without Burnham at the helm?
The fair would not have had one-tenth of the success. Burnham embodied Chicago; he worked his way up to one of the top architects even though he was routinely stomped on. Burnham understood Chicago, and because of this he was able to perfectly compliment the city. He was also a skilled leader who managed to bring together some of the best architects, lawn designers and artists in America.
8. Why did Holmes take the children?
For Holmes, taking the children was a game. He was excited and smug at how easy it was to move around the children and their mother like pawns. He delighted in bringing the close and then pulling them apart. When he was bored with them, he killed them.
9. How did their drive to ‘out-Eiffel’ the Eiffel Tower impact the fair?
Their drive to ‘out-Eiffel’ the Paris exhibition led them to consider things they would not have normally considered doing, and made the World fair bigger and more amazing than the Paris exhibition.
10. Why do you think Erik Larsson wrote the book in tandem instead of two separate books?
I think Erik Larsson wrote the book in tandem to compare and contrast. Both Burnham and Holmes were powerful men who worked at goals. The difference is that Burnham was working to build a place for all of America to be proud of and Holmes was working to destroy lives and steal money. I also think he wrote them in tandem because they stories are interlocking. Without the World’s Fair Holmes could never have killed so many people without getting caught and it represented how Chicago was changing with in the years around the world’s fair.
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