ERIK LARSON IS THE AUTHOR OF THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER, ISAAC’S STORM, and two previous books, Lethal Passage and The Naked Consumer. His work has appeared in a number of national magazines, including Harper's, The New Yorker, Time and Atlantic Monthly. Larson’s upcoming book, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, is the story of two men -- an architect and a serial killer – whose lives were defined by the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Within these dual narratives, Larson paints a portrait of a largely forgotten historical event that changed American culture. The book is a study in contrasts: the glorious fantasy of the "white city" created for the World’s Fair versus the reality of the dark industrial one that was turn-of-the century Chicago; the civic-minded visionary versus the calculating killer; good versus evil.

How did you find this story?

Well, I found the murderer—Holmes—first. I’d read a little bit about him, and his story was interesting, but a little sensational. Other people had written about him, but the World’s Fair was always in the background, or not mentioned all. I’d read about the Fair and Daniel Burnham as well, but to tell you the truth, I didn’t see a book in either, on their own. But the idea of these two opposites, working at the same time, was fascinating. On the one hand, we have possibly the most prolific serial killer ever. On the other, there’s Burnham, leading this Herculean effort to build the Fair—and these things were happening side by side. Holmes was really a cultural antipode to Burnham, who had this huge sense of civic goodwill. That juxtaposition really encapsulated where the country was headed at the beginning of the 20th century. On top of that, there was this endless banquet of characters—Buffalo Bill, Susan B. Anthony, all sorts of people kept showing up.

As you researched, what surprised you?

Everything. Every time I waded in, I found something new and incredible that I didn’t know. Case in point: The Ferris wheel. When I started this project, I didn’t know that was where the Ferris wheel began—but the fact that someone (Ferris) would try something like that for the first time on such an enormous scale was just extraordinary. So that was one surprise. But there were dozens—Cracker Jack debuted there; the Pledge of Allegiance was first said in honor of the dedication; Helen Keller happened to meet the man who invented Braille at the grounds one day and gave him a hug—as each character stepped forward, I’d find something else.

As a storyteller, was that distracting?

Yes. The huge challenge was making them all work together—all of these wonderful moments. At this point, I think it works, but it wasn’t easy to pull together. But I do think, now that it’s done, that removing any one piece would diminish the impact. With a dual narrative, like this one, what the reader expects and needs is that the narratives converge. With this, the impact of the Fair is key—because it’s not that the two narratives collide, but they travel in parallel and are linked, especially by the ending.

Why was the 1893 Fair "the Fair that Changed America," as it says on the cover of your book?

First of all, the Fair produced this huge upwelling in design. Take the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC—it’s a perfect example of how neoclassical design was moving to the forefront. And Daniel Burnham was behind it—the sheer weight of his power allowed him to convince the railroad to move the station and the tracks to provide the site for the Memorial. (Of course, Burnham was chosen to design the new station—Union Station—quid pro quo.) Landscape design, too, changed after the fair—if you look at how post offices and city halls are situated and landscaped in this country, it’s so clear. I’m floating a controversial point, though. Among architectural historians, there was for a long time a theory that the Fair killed off uniquely American architecture [in favor of neoclassical architecture]—and if you wanted to succeed in academic architecture, that was the line you had to adhere to. I would argue that the World’s Fair of 1893 paved the way for great American architects—it showed people that cities could be beautiful, and most importantly, opened the nation to the power of architecture.

There are a number of other things that are present in this country, part of our culture, that started during the Fair. As I mentioned earlier, there was the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ferris Wheel, Cracker Jack. Another big one was the decision to use AC power—it really set a precedent for cheap, clean power.