Sophia C. reviewed on 8/17/2012 + 289 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Erik Larson, noted author of The Devil in the White City, returns for more micro-historical-story-telling. In the Garden of the Beasts alternates between William Dodd, the American ambassador during the early years of Hitler's rise to power in Germany, and his daughter Martha, who also went to Berlin. Larson still excels at the story-telling aspect of his craft, although there is less suspense than Devil given the subject matter and its relative familiarity here— we all know what happens to Hitler's Germany. After their one year anniversary in Berlin, subsequent events seemed rushed; Larson was running out of steam. I happened to have read Andrew Nagorksi's Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power earlier this year, which give me a broader perspective on this historical moment and writing about history. The sources one uses probably unconsciously but inherently direct the story being told. Larson, using mostly the Dodds' and other State Department papers, paints Ambassador Dodd as "the lone beacon of American freedom and hope in a land of gathering darkness," albeit a mild-mannered history professor whose style and income bracket didn't jive with the rest of the diplomatic corps, whereas Nagorski focused much more on members of the American press corps, whose reaction to Dodd was mixed because he was ineffectual. Both books informed my very dim understanding of this time in a complementary way, and In the Garden of the Beasts was the more entertaining book.

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