Customer Reviews

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I dragged this heavy tome on a recent business trip and found myself utterly engrossed. I could not put it down. This is Larson's best so far. Written in an engaging narrative style, this non-fiction work traces Hitler's rise from Chancellor of Germany to dictator through the eyes of an American history professor and his daughter.

Appointed ambassador to Germany in 1933, Dodd, his wife and two adult children are initially enamoured with the changes and energy they find in Germany (Dodd had studied there in his youth). His daughter Martha, willful, self-absorbed, bright and naive is especially enthralled and counts Nazi officials among her beaus. Over time their enthusiasm for the regime wanes as it implements increasingly draconian measures against its own people.

Ambassador Dodd finds himself a Cassandra-like figure, warning the American administration of Germany's rearmament to no avail.

While readers may be familiar with this period of history, Larson brings a fresh perspective. Reading in the Garden of Beasts is liking watching history unfold before your eyes. It's a cautionary tale of apathy and denial that bears remembering.

This book was recommended to me by a friend who was born, as I was , during WW II, but she was born in Germany and I was born in England. We both felt we learned a great deal that we hadn't previously known about the years leading up to the war: startling revelations about attitudes in the US at that time. I have since bought the book for my husband, my son, one of my sons-in-law and one of my daughters: they have all been fascinated and have passed the book on or recommended it to others. I think a book like this, so thoroughly researched and yet so easy to read, can teach us a great deal about a conflict we should not forget. I grew up in the aftermath of WW II and it was constantly spoken of , but for my children and grandchildren it is just another piece of history.

The book is a wonderful presentation of the real attitude of the American societytoward the Hitler regime. The American public in the best case was totally indifferent for the fate of the Jews in the Hitler regime.
The description in the book is excellent. You have to know a great deel of WWII history to understand the description of the heros of the story.
It is an excellent book.

Paul Bard

The years prior to WWII must be a lesson to the modern world. It can happen again. This book does an excellent job of depicting the subtle developments in prewar Germany. Even though people protested the treatment of Jews, there was a silent hope that the injustices would go away without protest and disruption to the daily routines. This book brings clarity to the present day events which must be resisted lest history repeat itself. A cliche but nevertheless true. Anyone who has an interest in history will surely enjoy this sobering story.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and am looking forward to discussion at our Book Club. This is a good example of a book I probably would not have read if it were not a book club selection, and I am so glad I did. I learned a lot about Germany in that period of history, and the key players involved. Made it come alive, and startling in fact how the Nazis gained their power over the German people and managed to steer good people in such a destructive directiohn. I was less enamoured with the antics of Martha, and find her annoying and immature. I also found it interesting and believable that an academic like Dodd, with his scholarly and somewhat introverted personality, could find himself in this position, although I can't imagine it happening today.

This book is so well documented, I felt almost as it I knew these people. It was a time when, unfortunately, antisemitism was pervasive everywhere in Europe and North America. It was interesting to see the change in Martha's attutude from when she first arrived in Germany to when she saw for herself the changes brought about by Hitler's regime. What I found hardest to forgive was the reluctance of everyone to stop Hitler when they could have.

For anyone who has wondered how Hitler was able to gain power in Germany, this book is a must-read. By focusing on the American ambassador in Berlin from 1933 to 1937, William Dodds, Larson is able to shine a light on Nazi tactics and how the German people (and the world at large) allowed them to gain control.

This was a great read and sorry that the book had to finish. As a student of history it reveals the best and worst of the era of Hitlers Germany

Don s

In the Garden of Beasts.....is a book that will remain with me forever; I have already re-read it and am just as mesmerized as the first time. The opportunity to live the early days of Nazi Germany through the eyes of American Ambassador Dodd and his daughter Martha as if we were there with them is chilling, hypnotic and terrifying. Through their real-life diaries as brilliantly interpreted by Erik Larson, we see the eerie progression of the increasingly barbaric behaviour of senior German officials and their subordinates as all opposition is tortured and murdered. And the indifference of the American population and administration to what is happening there is an eye-opener. A must-read.

Just fine, the book is in good condition, first rate story with a sinister feel to the proceedings.
The 1 per centers are the real villains.