In The Garden of Beasts

This was an interesting nonfiction account of Hitler's first year as Chancellor and rise to absolute power over Germany, as told through the experience of the American Ambassador to Germany and his family. Larson provides a lot of detail and has obviously done his research, but I was left feeling like he may have overcommitted - that there maybe wasn't enough material here for an almost 400-page book. I found some of it repetitive and some of it irrelevant to the main story. Additionally, I found the Ambassador's daughter, Martha (a major player in the story), infuriating. She was a spoiled brat with delusions of grandeur, a raging libido, and a soft spot for Nazis, at least initially. Still, an interesting account of a seminal time in history and worth picking up, even if it isn't nearly as good as the author's Isaac's Storm. ( )

Fascinating story of an American family in Berlin in the 1930's ( )

This is not my type of book and I probably would not have read it if it was not selected for my book club. I would recommend it to anyone who likes nonfiction since it reads very factual. It was well written and based on true events. A lot of research must have gone into writing this book. This book was interesting to me in its own way. I would rate it higher but it isn't the type of book I like to get lost in. ( )

In the Garden of Beasts is a fascinating look inside Nazi Germany, before World War II, before the pogroms and gas chambers. Author Erik Larson follows William Dodd and his family during his first year as the American ambassador to Germany in 1933. Hitler had just become Chancellor and few knew what to make of the Nazis. Reports of attacks were tempered by what seemed to be a resurgence in Germany. The book is focused primarily on the ambassador and his daughter, Martha. Larson brilliantly recreates Berlin 1933, the excitement of the Nazi "revolution", the growing unease and distrust fostered by the gestapo, and the social life in which various Nazi officials took part. The book is a bit episodic, and though they live in the same house, the stories of Martha and her father have very little intersection. Martha is very active in the Berlin social life and is initially excited by the Nazi movement. William Dodd goes in with some trepidation and bemoans the social obligations of the job and interacts with Germany's government through his job. Throughout the year they witness as Hitler and the Nazi's grow bolder in their actions and pave the way to World War II. ( )

Light nonfiction about something that has been written to death about already. And the people in it wrote their own books any? Should I mention that? If I wanted a page turner I'd read Harry Crews. I guess that is a bad analogy. I guess I am all mixed up.
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