"The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America" By Erik Larson. Vintage Books 395 pp. A phoenix rising from the ashes is a bittersweet cycle that entails a tragic loss and a triumphant rebirth into the world. Like the tale of this mythical creature, Chicago has endured devastating losses and a victorious restorations namely through the events of the Great Fire of 1871 and the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition …showed first 75 words of 849 total…

…showed last 75 words of 849 total…dichotomy between the good and evil of the Chicago World's Fair raises many questions that are left to the reader to answer. Were the lives lost worth the buildings built? Was the fair really a Utopian vision or simply just a reminder of how much turmoil the rest of America was facing? Which are more important: technological advances or moral advances? And finally, was the exposition a phoenix--or more of a pigeon--rising from the ashes?