What historical reference is discussed on pages 37-38 in Erik Larson's "Devil in the White City" and what does it mean?

There is mention of Upton Sinclair on 37 that seems particularly significant to me.  This historical reference relates to the terrible sanitation and food preparation conditions in the city at the time explored in Sinclair’s book The Jungle.  The Union Stock Yards (which would also be the meatpacking district) are described.

The few who found it invigorating tended to be men who waded in its “river of death,” Sinclair’s phrase, and panned from it great fortunes. (p. 38)

By calling upon Sinclair’s descriptions and phrases, we are reminded that this is an historical period where everything is raw and rough.  The childhood incident is also a reference to the survival of the fittest attitude that reigned supreme then.

What historical reference appears on page 323 of The Devil in the White City?

The major historical reference on this page is to the Pullman Strike of 1894.  The strike was connected to the Panic of 1893.

On this page, Larson refers to one of the major causes of the Pullman Strike.  In 1894, the effects of the panic were still being felt.  The Pullman Company was cutting wages for its workers and was even laying workers off.  Most of the workers lived in the company town of Pullman.  The company owned their homes but did not lower their rents when it lowered their pay or laid them off.  The workers felt this was very unfair and that helped cause the strike.  The strike ended up as a very violent affair that spread to many parts of the country.  This is the most important historical reference on this page.

What historical reference is discussed on pages 211-212 in The Devil in the White City and what does it mean?

Another important reference in these pages is the reference to Hull House and to Jacob Riis.

The 1890s were just before the real start of the Progressive Era and there were many elements of progressivism already at work.  There were "muckrakers" like Riis who were trying to publicize negative aspects of American life to encourage people to push the government for reform.  There were women like Jane Addams of Hull House who were creating settlement houses that were meant to help immigrants become more like middle class "native" Americans.  These were very important historical trends going on at the time this book is set.

One of the most interesting historical references I saw on this page is a reference to Hollingsworth’s Columbia Cookbook, the cookbook for the modern woman.  This strikes me as the beginning of the modern women’s rights movement.  It shows how the role of woman was changing in modern times.

[It] was much more than just a cookbook.  Hollingsworth billed it as an overall guide to helping modern young housewives create a peaceful, optimistic and sanitary household.  The wife was to set the tenor of the day. (p. 211)

The book is said to contain interesting health and medical information, thus helping the modern woman use science to create a better household.  The woman runs the household in this book.  The woman’s knowledge saves the day.  It’s also practical in the modern industrialized world that was being created.

What historical reference is discussed on pages 11-14 of The Devil in the White City, and what does it mean?

There is a little problem with your question. I've been scouring these pages for something that might be described as "word for word" and there is nothing. "Word for word" signifies an exact accounting in relation to something else: word for word as reported in a news account; word for word as recorded in a court transcript; word for word as reported by a witness; word for word as spoken in a deposition by a significant participant. There is nothing in these pages that is a "word for word" account in relation to something else. What you do have are references that are in the words of the person reflecting on circumstances or events.

These are not allusions, these are references. An allusion differs from a reference in (1) that a person must know a great deal about a past great event or personage from history, literature, the Bible or mythology in order to understand an allusion--allusions rely upon a shared in-depth knowledge--(2) while anyone can understand a reference because the reference is given context, meaning, and often at least a brief description. One detailed reference is to the dangerous living conditions in Chicago during this era: pedestrians being run down by trains, vehicles falling off drawbridges, horses going wild and drawing carriages into crowds, fires daily that were reported by the news as having victims "roasted," and more. In this passage, Larson gives a detailed reference to the dangers of living in Chicago during this period.

What historical reference is discussed on pages 214-215 of The Devil in the White City, and what does it mean?

The major historical reference here is to the political machine in Chicago.  During this era, political machines dominated the politics of many big cities.  Chicago's was a very strong machine that lasted much longer than most cities' machines.

Machine politics was based on the idea that, as the book says, if you worked for the machine, it would pay you back.  People worked hard to ensure that their neighbors would vote the "right" way.  In return, they got jobs for themselves and patronage jobs for some in their neighborhoods.  They were able to get favors from the government.  

In general, machines tried to help the poor and immigrants to some degree in exchange for their votes.  They used the power they got through winning elections to become corrupt and enrich themselves.

What historical reference is found on pages 334-336 of The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson?

In an answer to a previous question of yours, I mentioned the major strike that would take place in 1894 in the town of Pullman.  That strike is the major historical reference on these pages.

On these pages, we are told about the 1894 Pullman strike.  We are told about how it started in Pullman and then spread.  We are told about how much damage was done and about how the army was called out to help quell the strike.  This is rather typical of labor relations during this time.  There were many violent strikes in the last few decades of the 19th century as unions tried to organize and companies tried to destroy them.  The government was typically very much in favor of the businesses and governmental power was often used to put down strikes.  The major historical reference in these pages is to the Pullman strike which is a good example of the general atmosphere between unions, employers, and the government during this time.

What historical reference appears on pages 373-4 of The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson?

On these pages of the book, Larson speaks about the fair's effect on the nation's culture, and these pages include several historical references. The author refers to Walt Disney's father, Elias, who helped design the fair, and he states that Disney World may have been a "descendant" of the fair. L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wizard of Oz, also visited the fair with his partner, and Baum's creation of Oz was informed by the fair. In addition, the architect Frank Lloyd Wright's Prarie style might have been influenced by the Japanese temple at the fair. The fair also prompted other American architects to conceive of cities in new ways and to create urban areas that were not only utilitarian but also beautiful. Finally, the fair led President Harrison to create the national holiday of Columbus Day on October 12. 

On these pages, Larson is trying to show how the Columbian Exposition had an impact on American society and culture.  Therefore, the main historical references on these pages have to do with popular culture.

The two most important references to popular culture on these pages are to Walt Disney and L. Frank Baum.  Larson argues that both of these men’s careers might have been influenced by the fair.  Disney, of course, produced Mickey Mouse and other cartoons and eventually the Disney empire we know today.  Baum was the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which has become famous, mostly through the movie that was based on it.  There are also references to how Frank Lloyd Wright was influenced by the fair, though Wright is not as much of a popular culture figure.

The references on these pages, then, are to the various impacts that Larson believes the Exposition had on American cultural history.

What historical reference is discussed on pages 59-61 of The Devil in the White City?

I think it is important to expand a little bit on the previous post.  People in Chicago were indeed worried about losing it all.  But if you are going to talk about this worry as a historical reference, you should also discuss how this was the beginning of the Panic of 1893.  This is an extremely important historical event.  Up to that time, the Panic of 1893 was the worst economic crash the United States had ever experienced.  You should be sure to mention it specifically.

Another historical reference is the reference on page 59 to the Chicago political machine.  Larson says that “that was how Chicago politics worked.”  This refers to how Chicago was run by a “machine” that corruptly used government jobs and other kinds of favors to essentially buy votes.  This machine was a defining feature of Chicago politics for a very long time.

What historical reference is found on pages 310-311 of The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson?

The main historical reference on these pages is to the ideas about race that were current at the time and the ways in which Americans looked at people from less “civilized” countries.

On page 311, we see descriptions of the swimming races that were held in which people from various countries competed against one another.  The language used to describe these is striking because we would see it as terribly racist today.  It talks about, for example, how the Turks were “as hairy as gorillas.”  Today, we would never characterize any group of non-white people in this way because of the racist overtones.  The account also talks somewhat mockingly about how hard the people competed for the $5 prizes.  This kind of condescending attitude towards non-whites was common in this time.  It is a major difference between their historical era and our own.  Thus, this is an important historical reference. 

What historical reference is discussed on pages 254-255 of The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, and what does it mean?

As noted in the other answer, the marvel of the electric lights that illuminated the Chicago World's Fair at night are described in some detail. We learn that electric lights "laced every building and walkway" and were the first large-scale test of alternating current. Larson offers another factoid as well: the fair used three times as much electricity as the entire city of Chicago. Of course, as we learn earlier in the book, Chicago at this time is still very much illuminated by gas lights, although electricity has been introduced to the city.

Larson talks about how safe people felt walking around at night in the bright illumination of electric lights and about the beauty of a fountain's water lit by electricity.

As for a specific historic reference, Larson quotes a Polish immigrant girl named Hilda Satts who attended the fair with her father. She was only formerly familiar with kerosene lights. Larsen quotes her saying that, in contrast to kerosene, the electric illumination is "like getting a sudden vision of heaven."

She is also surprised that the electric lights are turned on by a switch and do not require matches.

The most important historical reference on these pages is to the electric lights that were so prevalent at the fair.  As the book tells us on p. 254, these were the first electric lights that many people had ever seen.

At the turn of the century, the US was approaching a time when technology would be used to a great extent to make people’s lives easier.  The earlier industrial revolution in the US had been built around capital goods like railroads.  Now, technology was being used to help regular people with their everyday lives.  Electric lights were a clear example of this as they made life safer and more pleasant for millions of Americans in the years around the time of the Columbian Exposition.

What historical reference is discussed on pages 288-289 of "The Devil in the White City" and what is its significance?

The major historical reference on these pages is not actually specifically named.  Instead, there are a number of references to events that occurred because of this unnamed event.  The event is the Panic of 1893.

The Panic of 1893 was the biggest economic downturn in the history of the United States to that point.  It was a major shock to many people in the country.  As we can see in these pages, it was a devastating blow to many Americans.  The pages that you mention refer to bank failures and to suicides.  These things show just how traumatic the Panic of 1893 was to many Americans.  This makes it an important historic reference.

What historical reference is discussed on page 119 of The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson?

The historical Engineering Magazine is mentioned. Being a journal for the engineering field, it is filled with minute statistical details and other minute detail that might be "of practical value" to engineers. It was published by David Van Nostrand. Van Nostrand Publishing was founded in New York in 1848 and was closed in 1968 when Litton industries bought them out and merged Van Nostrand with another firm. Van Nostrands's Encyclopedia of Chemistry and Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia are still published today under another publishing imprint. What this means is that if, on page 119, a reporter from the prestigious and influential Engineering Magazine is asking how the Chicago World Fair exhibition "will be ready in two years?" then a very intimidating potential foe to the project is asking a very leading question. If the project should be exposed as charlatanism by Van Nostrand's publication, a great many people would pay a great deal of attention. This potentiality would cause the project planners a great deal of uneasiness.

What historical reference is found on pages 315-316 of The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson?

The most important historical reference that can be found on these pages of The Devil in the White City is a reference to the stresses brought on by the Panic of 1893.

In these pages, we are told that the depression was getting worse.  The Panic of 1893 was the worst economic downturn that the country had ever seen up to that point.  In these pages, we see a major Chicago bank going bankrupt because of the panic.  We see that there had been three suicides at one hotel alone, with the latest being an executive at a major railroad that went bankrupt.

There is also a reference to Samuel Gompers, who was a major labor leader.  He is referred to in the context of the idea that labor strife was increasing at the time.  There would be a major strike the next year that was centered in the town of Pullman, near to Chicago.

These references to the panic and to labor strife are the main historical references on these pages.

What historical reference appears on pages 108-9 of The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson?

These pages discuss several historical facts:

• The death of John Root, one of the principal architects of the fair, caused subsequent speculation that the fair could not proceed without him.
• On January 20, 1891, there was a bank failure in Kansas City that caused the president of the fair to resign.
• In 1885, there was a cholera outbreak in Chicago that killed ten percent of the city’s population.
• Labor unions began agitating for a minimum wage and the eight-hour work day.

Larsen does not go into much detail on these pages about any of these events; his aim is to convey how several factors, including Root’s death, made the prospect of having a successful fair uncertain. The detail about labor unions trying to use the high profile Fair project as leverage in getting labor reform is interesting, in that the resistance to labor demands was largely at odds with the utopian ideals of the fair.

The major historical reference on these pages is to the labor unrest of this time in American history and to the goals that the unions hoped to achieve.  The Columbian Exposition was held only a few years before the “official” beginning of the Progressive Era in 1900, but there were of course progressive ideas already in circulation.  Some of these are mentioned on these pages.

The progressives and labor unions wanted to curb the power of big businesses.  They wanted to force the businesses to treat their workers better.  On these pages, Larson mentions worries about the unions using the fair to push for minimum wages and the 8- hour day.  He also mentions concerns about pollution and the sickness that could come with it.  All of these things were issues that worried the unions and/or the progressives.

Thus, the major historical reference is to the demands that were being made by unions and progressives in the late 1800s.

What historical reference is discussed in pages 283-287 of "The Devil in the White City," and what does it mean?

One of the most important historical references to be found on these pages is the reference to Susan B. Anthony.  Anthony was one of the most important figures in the history of women’s rights. 

Susan B. Anthony was a young woman at the time of the Seneca Falls Conference that started the women’s rights movement in 1848.  She did not attend that meeting, but did become active in issues of women’s rights shortly thereafter.  She became one of the most important leaders in the movement.  She was arrested in 1872, for example, for voting in the presidential election and subsequently went on tour talking about the injustice of being arrested for voting.

Anthony lived until 1906.  This means she did not live to see women get the vote.  She is, however, a major historical figure and is the most important historical reference on these pages.