In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

364 pages

"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 experience 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, addictive 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." -Dust Jacket

I went through a WWII phase early in my college years and read a lot of books about the war. I hadn't read anything about the years leading up to the war however. This book was very informative and well written. Erik Larson takes history and puts it together in a way that reads like an interesting novel.

Knowing what Hitler was and what he did makes it hard to envision a time where people thought of him as harmless and waited for him to go away, or worse, thought of him as the savior of Germany. He and his men were literally crazy lunatics but they were just sane enough to be feared and controlling. Dodd's daughter even got caught up in the enthusiasm of the Nazi party for awhile and the "good" things it was doing for the country. Almost 80 years (80 years?!) after the events in this book you want to scream, "Why didn't anyone do anything to stop them?" How did they manage to generate so much fear? It's hard to put yourself in that time and try to be objective with the facts that you're given. Still, there were people who tried to warn America and others about the dangers of the Nazi regime, a man by the name of Messersmith in particular, who wrote letter after letter to the State Department warning of the danger of not intervening in the events transpiring in Germany. It took Dodd awhile to figure out just how dangerous things were and then he did his best to speak out.

What I found most disheartening was the political influence that existed in America then (and even more so now) that made all decisions based on power and wealth rather than decency. Men in power love power and do whatever it takes to protect that power. Rich men conspired against Dodd and tried to play nice with Hitler and the Nazis. They did so under the guise of isolationism. Many didn't want to ruffle any feathers in Germany because of the German debt that was held by America. America wanted that debt repaid and felt like doing anything to insult the government would result in their defaulting on the loan, which at the time of the Great Depression, was not something that America wanted to have happen.

Above all, I think this book is a cautionary tale for us today. There were signs of what was to come and yet people/governments did nothing. The message I take away from this book is that it's our responsibility to take a stand for what's right and decent, no matter the subject.

On a separate note, this book reminded me of how important it is to keep a journal. Without Dodd's journal and others, this book wouldn't have been possible. And that Martha got around.