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

Erik Larson

Start date: June 1, 2023

Finish date: June 30, 2023

Discussion: Non-Fiction Classics

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What Members Thought

Apr 03, 2021 Chrissie marked it as maybe

Shelves: history, audible-us, germany, bio

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*The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America 5 stars
*Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History 4 stars
*Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania 3 stars
*The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz 3 stars
*In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin TBR ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Jun 04, 2011 Laura rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: mtbr-challenge-2012, history, read-2012, memoir-biography, non-fiction

This is the story of William E. Dodd who became America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany.

Dodd's naiveté in face of Hitler's ascension is the big issue of this book.

The only captivating story comes from his daughter, Martha Dodd who was attracted to a soviet KGB's member.

Even if I haven't read any books by Hans Fallada and Christopher Isherwood wrote better books on this subject, specially Every Man Dies Alone
and The Berlin Stories respectively.

...more

3 likes · Like · see review

May 21, 2011 Janice rated it it was amazing

Excellent book about the rise of the Third Reich the year following Hitler's appointment as Chancellor to his becoming Fuhrer and dictator.
Telling this narrative nonfiction story through the eyes of U.S. Ambassador William Dodd and his daughter Martha Dodd allows an insight to the reasons the United States and its European Allies were reluctant to take on Hitler and his maniacal underlings. As a fan of Erik Larson since his fascinating "The Devil in the White City" I found this book equally bril ...more

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May 04, 2011 Stacy marked it as books-i-lost-interest-in

Considering the subject matter and author, this was surprisingly bland.

I may pick this up again at some point, but I had to return this to the library.

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