Erik Larson has been widely acclaimed as a master of
narrative non-fiction, and in his new book, the bestselling
author of Devil in the White City turns his hand to a
remarkable story set during Hitler’s rise to power.
The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd
becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in a
year that proved to be a turning point in history.
A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along
his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first
Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the
handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious
enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world
prominence. Enamored of the “New Germany,” she has one
affair after another, including with the suprisingly
honorable first chief of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels. But as
evidence of Jewish persecution mounts, confirmed by chilling
first-person testimony, her father telegraphs his concerns
to a largely indifferent State Department back home. Dodd
watches with alarm as Jews are attacked, the press is
censored, and drafts of frightening new laws begin to
circulate. As that first year unfolds and the shadows
deepen, the Dodds experience days full of excitement,
intrigue, romance—and ultimately, horror, when a climactic
spasm of violence and murder reveals Hitler’s true character
and ruthless ambition.
Suffused with the tense atmosphere of the period, and with
unforgettable portraits of the bizarre Göring and the
expectedly charming--yet wholly sinister--Goebbels, In the
Garden of Beasts lends a stunning, eyewitness perspective on
events as they unfold in real time, revealing an era of
surprising nuance and complexity. The result is a dazzling,
addictively readable work that speaks volumes about why the
world did not recognize the grave threat posed by Hitler
until Berlin, and Europe, were awash in blood and terror.
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