Part 1, Prologue Summary

Nineteen years have passed since the World's Exposition of 1893 hosted by Chicago, Illinois. The Exposition's unofficial name was the White City. The official name was the World's Columbian Exposition. It was a celebration of the 400^th anniversary since Columbus' discovery of America. Daniel Burnham, the chief architect of the Exposition, is aboard a ship bound for Europe. He is thinking of his friends that worked on the Exposition with him, the challenges, obstacles, and events that almost kept the Exposition from opening on schedule. Burnham could not think of the Exposition without also thinking of the disappearances and murders that occurred only a short way from the Exposition grounds. It did not matter that the disappearances and murders were not discovered until after the Exposition closed. They still marred the beauty of the Exposition and the work he had done to...