Erik Larson is a brilliant writer. He masterfully weaves the information into a readable book. 'In the Garden of Beasts' Larson writes about Hitler's rise to power (after the Richstag burned) and also chronicles the Dodd family, the US ambassador to Germany.
William E. Dodd is expecting to have a quiet ambassador position in Europe and it is completely the opposite. Dodd was a student in Leipzig 30 years previous therefore somewhat lived in his dreams of the old Germany. His daughter, Martha on the other hand is enthralled with everything Berlin has to offer (she even had a brief affair with the first chief of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels---can you even imagine?) and pushes herself into Nazi circles and at times defended the third Reich to friends and family back home...
Would I read it again, no. But it was thrilling to read something related to a place I had just left (and loved) and reading the characterizations of the German people. Before reading the book I knew nothing of Ambassador Dodd and his very small stance he made against Hitler...
Favorite Quote:
“In Germany, Dodd had noticed, no one ever abused a dog, and as a consequence dogs were never fearful around men and were always plump and obviously well tended. Horses seem to be equally happy, never children or the youth...He called it "horse happiness" and had noticed the same phenomenon in Nuremburg and Dresden. In part, he knew this happiness was fostered by German law, which forbade cruelty to animals and punished violators with prison.
"At a time when hundreds of men have been put to death without trial or any sort of evidence of guilt, and when the population literally trembles with fear, animals have rights guaranteed them which men and women cannot think of expecting."
He added, "One might easily wish he were a horse!”
