



In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (Unabridged)
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4.0 • 217 Ratings
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
“Larson is a marvelous writer...superb at creating characters with a few short strokes.”—New York Times Book Review
Erik Larson has been widely acclaimed as a master of narrative non-fiction, and in his new book, the bestselling author of Devil in the White City turns his hand to a remarkable story set during Hitler’s rise to power.
The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history.
A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the “New Germany,” she has one affair after another, including with the suprisingly honorable first chief of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels. But as evidence of Jewish persecution mounts, confirmed by chilling first-person testimony, her father telegraphs his concerns to a largely indifferent State Department back home. Dodd watches with alarm as Jews are attacked, the press is censored, and drafts of frightening new laws begin to circulate. As that first year unfolds and the shadows deepen, the Dodds experience days full of excitement, intrigue, romance—and ultimately, horror, when a climactic spasm of violence and murder reveals Hitler’s true character and ruthless ambition.
Suffused with the tense atmosphere of the period, and with unforgettable portraits of the bizarre Göring and the expectedly charming--yet wholly sinister--Goebbels, In the Garden of Beasts lends a stunning, eyewitness perspective on events as they unfold in real time, revealing an era of surprising nuance and complexity. The result is a dazzling, addictively readable work that speaks volumes about why the world did not recognize the grave threat posed by Hitler until Berlin, and Europe, were awash in blood and terror.
Customer Reviews
Amazing Book Must Read
Erik Larson is a master of story telling and character development. A very important history communicated greatly full of lessons
Great book
Well crafted well told, as Larson tends to accomplish time and again
Compelling and enlightening but nonsensical in conclusion
Three quarters or more if the book is the story of a diplomat with anti demerit leaning who, out of naïveté or convenience, put his head in the sand about events in Germany over the many years where the evil forces could have been made public or even squashed. It was not until it was at his doorstep and affecting himself and his family did the circumstances raise in importance (like so many others). The fact that he eventually raised the alarm as best as he could does not erase the years of parties and trying to write his history book while suffering was all around. To conclude he was a hero as was his daughter (who went so far as to try to attract hitler himself, seems like a grossly happy conclusion.