In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson
Erik Larson has been widely acclaimed as a master of narrative nonfiction, and in this book, the bestselling author of The 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 surprisingly 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 experiences days full of excitement, intrigue, romance -- and ultimately horror, when a climactic spasm of violence and murder unmasks Hitler's true character and ruthless ambition.
Suffused with the tense atmosphere of the period, and with unforgettable portraits of the bizarre Goring and the expectedly charming -- yet wholly sinister -- Goebbels, In the Garden of Beasts lends a stunning eye-witness 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.
Crown Publishers, Hardcover, 1st Edition, Later Printing, 2011
THIS IS A BRAND NEW BOOK.