What is the setting of The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness in the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson?

The setting is the late 1880s to the mid-1890s in Chicago, Illinois. Women are for the first time, venturing away from their parents' homes to find jobs and be independent. The naïveté of these women is just what people like Holmes look for. The police are shown as ineffective since they truly have no idea what is going on in their city. People accept this as they accept the unsanitary conditions of the city. These same people, however, want a city like one that was created during the World's Fair 1893: the clean, happy and magical White City.