February 10

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

Erik Larsen's books always reflect extensive research and this book is no exception.  This fascinating story centers around the American Ambassador to Germany from 1933-36, William Dodd, and his family.   Larsen goes into the backstory of how the American ambassador came to be appointed, the climate in Berlin prior to the early 1930s, etc.  Dodd is an intellectual rather than an "old boys' club" diplomat and he is not very successful, except in discerning the natural of Hitler's plans.  Alas, the US (and the rest of the world), did not heed Dodd's dire warnings, and Hitler was free to brutalize Europe - and we know the rest.   We are introduced to many important players like Himler and filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl.  Strangely, Dodd's daughter Martha took a great many lovers among the enemy ranks (both German and Russian) as well as French and American, and certainly showed no discernment nor interest in what was happening around her.  What a floozy!  Many of the major characters' homes, including that of the Dodds, are located around Berlin's Tiergarten, and this provides an atmospheric center to the story.