Erik Larson, New York Times bestselling author of Devil in the White City, delivers 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 Nazi 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.
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Sexual Content - 2/5
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Violence - 3/5
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Language - 2/5
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Drugs and Alcohol - 1/5
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Summary
Overall Erik Larson is a fabulous writer and I wonder how he comes up with such diverse topics and finds things that are so compelling. I recommend any of his books but this one has stuck with me. I felt so bad for William Dodd and his family that was sent to Germany before WW2 to be Ambassador. No one else wanted the job and unfortunately for his family he accepted. He turns out to be such an honorable and heroic figure during a time when people like him were needed. This story will break your heart once again over Hitler and his work. It should be a part of any class instruction on pre WW2 history.
Violence lots of violence during this time and place
Language
Sexual their are sexual relationships between people that are not married. nothing in detail described
Review by Ahna.