Review: In the Garden of the Beasts by Erik Larson

From the publisher:

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.

It’s a question that’s obvious in hindsight, though it never occurred to me until I read this book: where was America's ambassador to Germany during Hitler’s rise? Was he aware of the dangers posed by Hitler and the Nazi party? If so, why didn’t he do anything? Erik Larson’s answer to these questions is a gripping and intense account of the political climate in prewar Berlin. Although I knew what was coming, I kept hoping that President Roosevelt, the State Department, and other officials in the United States would take Dodd’s unease seriously and heed his warnings about the danger of allowing Hitler to continue in his rise to power. Of course they didn’t, and without support from his colleagues and superiors, Dodd had little hope of stopping Hitler himself.

This book provided me with a deeper understanding of just how Germany allowed the Nazi phenomenon and its delusional antisemitism to become such a powerful force. I also enjoyed Larson’s descriptions of prewar Berlin with its beautiful parks, promenading couples, and extravagant dinner parties in an atmosphere of increasing terror of saying or writing the wrong thing, not saluting at the right time, or even failing to stop and watch a parade. This is an excellent book for anyone who’s interested in the history of World War II or history in general.

Also try:
Night (Elie Wiesel) and The Diary of Anne Frank are must-read accounts of the horror of the Nazi regime that everyone should read.

The Devil in the White City (Erik Larson) is another excellent book by Larson.

No Ordinary Time (Doris Kearns Goodwin) is an absorbing biography of the Roosevelts (Franklin and Eleanor).

Or if you prefer fiction:
The Plot against America (Philip Roth) is a dark alternate history of what might have happened in the United States if Charles Lindbergh had been president.

The Book Thief (Markus Zusak) is an incredibly sad but uplifting story about a young girl living in Nazi Germany. This book is usually shelved in the Young Adult section in American libraries and bookstores, although I believe in Europe it's published as general fiction (i.e., not targeted to young adults or children). It's definitely dark in places and may be inappropriate for some age groups.

The Light Years and other Cazelet Chronicles (Elizabeth Jane Howard) are wonderful, semi-autobiographical novels set in England between 1937 and the end of World War II.