The Great Fair of 1893 was organized as a major achievement for the time. Huge buildings, impossible technical feats, a mixture of cultures and the use of many new technologies were the main aspects of its success. However, even though the builders of the fair worked against impossible odds, they needed a leader, a figurehead to pave the way for success. In his book, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Erik Larson describes Burnham's obsession with greatness as a key element of his personality to emphasize why he was the man ideal for the position. Larson includes examples of Burnham's high views of grandeur and elegance, as well as his understanding of their greater effect on the general public to highlight why he was the right choice for principal architect. For example, Larson includes a scene aboard the RMS Olympic, one of the largest ships of its time. Larson notes that Burnham “loved the opulence of the ship, just as he loved the Pullman Palace carriages and the giant chimneys” (3). Larson uses this particular example of Burnham's views to allow the reader to develop a basic understanding of what is going on in Burnham's head as he designs the fair. Here, without even mentioning the fair, Larson seeks to highlight Burnham's qualities, which, in hindsight, made him the ideal man for the job. Because of this passion for grandeur, Burnham became an ideal candidate for the job as he was expected to design an entire city from the drawings and sketches of many diverse architects with very little collaboration between them. He took his passions and applied them to the grand designs of the fair, seeing the final product in his mind's eye and shaping the city until it became a... middle of paper ... with the fair, Larson. illustrates it because the fair was a success because it went beyond Paris. Larson points out that this fair would not have been as successful without Burnham's obsession with grandeur and elegance and that's why he was the right man for the job. Even with all the misfortunes that the builders of the fair experienced, the simple fact that they were able (for the most part) to finish the fair on time and that they dominated Paris shows that the fair as a whole was a success. However, Larson emphasizes Burnham's role in the fair by including examples of his obsession with grandeur and elegance in order to tell the reader that Burnham was the right man for the job. Work Cited Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City; Murder, magic and madness at the fair that changed America. New York: Random House, Inc., 2003. Print.