Eric Larson's "In the Garden of Beasts: A Story of Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin"

Phillip Wilson: A fascinating insight into society and politics in 1930’s Germany and beyond. A reminder that we ignore the lessons of history at our peril.

United Kingdom on Oct 31, 2023

Wiley: I found this book to be interesting and quite well written. My problem with it is that it covers a particularly dark period in German history, so there is little to lighten up the subject matter. The State Department takes no glory either, as it is comprised of a wealthy good old boys club who seek to undermine their own ambassador to Germany. The ambassador himself is out of his element and is a bit naive. America’s major interest in Germany is not Hitler, his ambitions, or his policies, rather it is ensuring that war retributions are paid to bond holders during the Depression.

I found this nonfictional book to be informative and it should appeal to those who are interested in this period.

United States on Oct 21, 2023

Peter: In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin
by Erik Larson

This book follows William Dodd, a southern historian, friend of the racist president Woodrow Wilson, (they are erasing Wilson’s name from university buildings at the moment) in a pivotal point in history as U.S. ambassador to Germany in 1933. It is very well documented with a plethora of footnotes, and yet provides very little historical context and surprisingly little insight into the central characters involved.

It begins with FDR’s appointment of Dodd, not Roosevelt’s first choice, as Adolf Hitler and the National Socialists consolidate power. The book focuses on Dodd’s first year, shown mostly through the social life of his daughter, Martha.

Separated from her husband in the U.S. she connects with the head of the Gestapo, a well known author or two, a NKVD (KGB) operative and has a shot at Hitler himself.

Her father Ambassador Dodd is college professor who is more interested in his farm and writing his history of the South. He makes a couple of speeches about the way the Jews are being treated in Germany, while commiserating with Hitler about...

United States on Aug 02, 2023

Bald eagle.: A basic book which is really rather innocuous, however the more I read the more I wanted to read. Always interested in anything about Berlin especially before and during the war, I found it a very worthwhile companion.
A little closeted but well worth buying.

United Kingdom on Apr 03, 2023

Ralph Blumenau: The book is a dual biography of William Dodd, who was the American ambassador in Nazi Germany from June 1933 to December 1937, and of his daughter, Martha; and it shows how their initial naïve acceptance of the Nazi regime gradually turned into hostility. It covers a lot of familiar ground about the Nazi regime, but is notable for focussing on the changing reactions of William and Martha towards it.

Dodd was born a southerner. He had studied at Leipzig University around 1900, so knew German and liked the country. He had become professor of History at Chicago University in 1909. He had been a supporter of the new American president, Franklin Roosevelt, and had hoped for a sinecure ambassadorship in a country like Holland or Belgium, that would give him time to complete a history of the American Old South. Instead, on June 8th, 1933, he was offered and accepted the Berlin Embassy, after four other men had declined the offer. At the time he was 64, and Martha was 24.

Dodd was born a southerner. He had studied at Leipzig University around 1900, so knew German and liked the country. He had been a history professor at Chicago University He had been a supporter of the new...

United Kingdom on Aug 30, 2021

G. Robinson: In the 1930's an American diplomat entered Berlin to start a new job. Little did he or his family know what was about to happen to the country and to them.

This story is of course shocking, the rise of National Socialism (there was nothing socialist about it) Hitler and his gang of acolytes, the hate, the suffering, the rise and fall of Nazism, the death of democracy and the subjugation of an entire nation to the will of one man to dominate those around him. We have all read about what happened to Germany, an educated, civilised and cultured modern state turned into a living hell.

However for me this story is even more shocking than the writ large essays by leading historians who have covered this period endlessly. This story is about how all this affected a small and decent family from a far off land. How they saw at first hand how the Jewish community were being persecuted, how an orderly law abiding society was slowly changing into a thugs paradise. How the rule of law was perverted or more often then not just ignored, and how new laws were passed purely to allow certain members of society to be treated like criminals based purely on their religion. How these...

United Kingdom on Jun 26, 2020

milliemumof7: FROM MY BLOG:

How many out there have seen Romeo & Juliet, and hoped that THIS time it would have a different, more happy ending? I do every time! And you get the same feeling when you read this book! I sat and thought "But please listen to the reports, pay attention, do something before it is too late!". Because this book shows many times over, the stupidity of States that could have done something to stop Hitler. There were moderate nazis, there was opposition, but they were too scared. HAD they got international backing, things could have ended differently. In 1933, Hitler was by no means all-powerful and accepted by everyone in Germany. But when everyone thought that the other person supported him, then most people didn't dare to voice an opinion.

This book mainly shows the US aspect of things. In 1933, USA were more isolationist than ever. FDR only showed concerns for domestic affairs. And diplomats and the State Department were more concerned about their rich lifestyle, being part of "the Pudding Club" (see "Murder on St. Malley's Day", a Midsomer Murder), preserving status quo and nepotism, than what went on in Germany. After FDR was elected president, he...

United Kingdom on Jul 31, 2013

Gerald T. Westbrook: In the Garden of Beasts
Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
by ERIK LARSON
1. Introduction. This book is divided into ten parts, with a total of fifty five chapters. The writer of this review has a strong need for both an Index and a Table of Contents. Since the author of this book does not include the chapters in his Table of Contents, an expanded version is produced below. Note that Das Vorspiel is defined by such words as: prelude; prologue; preliminary match; foreplay and audition. Note also that the photo credits refer to the pictures on the book title pages that are part of the title page for each PART.

Opening Quotation xi
Das Vorspiel xiii
1933
The Man Behind the Curtain 3
PART I: Into the Wood
Chapter 1: Means of Escape 9
Chapter 2: That Vacancy in Berlin 16
Chapter 3: The Choice 23
Chapter 4: Dread 27
Chapter 5: First Night 40
PART II: House Hunting in the Third Reich
Chapter 6: Seduction 53
Chapter 7: Hidden Conflict 61
Chapter 8: Meeting Putzi 70
Chapter 9: Death is Death 74
Chapter 10: Tiergartenstrasse 27a 83
PART III: Lucifer in the Garden
Chapter 11: Strange Beings 93
Chapter...

United States on Jun 04, 2012