• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS: LOVE, TERROR, AND AN AMERICAN FAMILY IN HITLERS BERLIN PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Erik Larson | 464 pages | 10 May 2011 | Random House LCC US | 9780307952424 | English | none In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitlers Berlin PDF Book Dealing with awkward relationships in Berlin and an increasingly hostile state department in Washington, Dodd alone among so many government leaders saw what would become if nothing was done. It all makes for a powerful, unsettling immediacy. I got this book through the goodreads. Martha's memoir seems to have been particularly revealing in regard to her initial fascination wit I guess I could call this a group biography of William Dodd, a mild-mannered Midwestern professor who became US Ambassador to Germany in , and his daughter Martha Dodd, a female playboy who quickly became infatuated with the glamour of Berlin nightlife. Jews are attacked, the press is censored, and drafts of frightening new laws begin to circulate. She adapted to Berlin much more easily than her father did. Propagandists for fascist groups try to dismiss the fascist scare. Consul in Berlin William Phillips , U. I love GoodReads! I understand the need to create dialogue to make the book appealing. I need actual "stories" to flesh out what I'm reading and enable me to have some pictures in my head so I can keep up and remember what's happening. Barry Levine. Anti-Semitism was just as rampant in the United States as it was in Germany, and Martha Dodd even admitted in her memoirs that the German government's treatment of Jews didn't bother her or her family very much at the time, because "we didn't really like Jews. More alarming was the gap between the U. After some weeks of searching, they took a lease on an imposing house at Tiergartenstrasse 27a. The house was the home of a Jewish private banker and his family, who continued to occupy the attic. Retrieved May 1, Dodd was unhappy in academia. Embassy in Berlin George S. At the age of thirty-three, Erik Reece's father, a Baptist minister, took his own life, leaving Erik in the care of his grandmother I would give it six stars if I could. Dodd also owned--and every summer tended--a small farm in Round Hill, Virginia, which, according to a county survey, had Brian McGrory thought he had it all figured out: a great job, a condo in Back Bay, and his beloved golden retriever Harry by his side. He brought his bicycle. 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. There are individual accounts that personalize the atmosphere of mounting oppression and terror. Refresh and try again. She brought intelligence and wit into this book whenever she appeared on the page. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich w The time is , the place, Berlin, when William E. I have had plenty of opportunity in my post in Berlin to witness how close some of our American ruling families are to the Nazi regime…. Respecting the hard financial times his country and the world were facing, Dodd insisted he would run the Embassy on his salary and even had his old vehicle shipped over to Germany--no limousine for him! No one wants the job, recognizing that it's a political hot potato. Though he loved teaching history, he loved writing it more, and for years he had been working on what he expected would be the definitive recounting of early southern history, a four- volume series that he called The Rise and Fall of the Old South, but time and again he had found his progress stymied by the routine demands of his job. Ambassador Dodd, perhaps one of the most unusual ambassadors to a major country we have ever had, was initially reluctant to criticize the Hitler regime, mainly due to his nostalgic memories of the time he spent studying in Germany decades before. Though following her was entertaining at times, I don't think Larson kept to his journalistic remove when mentioning her. The two of them fled the country and eventually died in Prague. But the people in this story never came to life for me, with the exception of Martha Dodd who I didn't care for. You reminded me of some parts in the book I hadn't remembered. Can't imagine you liking this. I would like to see this same type of book done about Japan in the 30's as well. Coupled with American and European nationals who were removed from the rest of Germany, living as tourists in diplomatic communities, you see how America and Europe were easily fooled. Jul 23, Kemper rated it liked it Shelves: war , , over-there , non-fiction , politics. These parts are not only boring, but are out of step with the serious concerns of the rest of the book. The point made over and over in the book was how happy and fit the German people felt they were in their daily life. Larson recounts the career of the American Ambassador to Germany, William Dodd , particularly the years to when he and his family, including his daughter Martha , lived in Berlin. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitlers Berlin Writer He was a plain-spoken fellow who had worked his way up from humble beginnings as a farm boy to assuming a professorship at the University of Chicago. She brought intelligence and wit into this book whenever she appeared on the page. October 21, They are told in chronological order with a tight rein on events at hand. My suspicion is that American profits had much to do with American political attitudes toward Hitler at a time when a different U. One of the malicious nicknames given to William E. In the process of getting a divorce at the time, she collected lovers in Germany like butterflies — her list of paramours both extensive and at times shocking. Adolph Hitler had been chancellor for a mere six months. The other half of the book we are left with Martha Dodd's sexual exploits with Nazis, Russians, whomever comes along to give her a thrill. William Dodd was in many ways a sort of square peg in a round hole when he became America's ambassador to Germany in Look, I don't care what your party is. Great care has been taken to provide all the little things that prevent confusion and make a book easier to read and understand. Dodd has brought along his family. As that first year unfolded they experienced days full of energy, intrigue, and romance—and, ultimately, terror, on a scale they could never have imagined. He had hoped to get an appointment Interesting book with a lot of value. From the award-winning author of Lost Mountain, a stirring work of memoir, spiritual journey, and Selected for the summer Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. But slowly they became aware of problems developing, expressed in brutality towards American citizens in Berlin and in the creation of harsh laws against the Jews. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, but this book does a good job recapturing a time when everyone was desperate to believe that the Nazis actually wanted peace. Interesting book with a lot of value. His daughter, also named Martha, was twenty-four years old; his son, William Jr. A good insight into the way foreigners perceived the Nazis at that time. Stephen Puleo. I will read this book again because I probably missed a lot in the first reading. But it was significant for the time, and gets some well-merited attention here. There is plenty in that one year to fill many books. She had many "friends", Nazi's Russians, artists, journalists, etc. I need actual "stories" to flesh out what I'm reading and enable me to have some pictures in my head so I can keep up and remember what's happening. Italiano Edit links. The ending I didn't care for much either. Crown Publishing Group. Dodd sat at his desk at the University of Chicago. I've read nonfiction that tends to be too academic or matter-of-fa There is so much to be said about the careful structuring of this book. There are individual accounts that personalize the atmosphere of mounting oppression and terror. Richard J. It raises again the question never fully answered about the Nazi era—what evil humans are capable of, and what means are necessary to cage the beast. That August, President Hindenburg died. Larson offers a bit of a look at the political machinations of the US consul general George Messersmith, as well. Turns out there was more to him than that. A few months ago, I finally figured out how to borrow audiobooks from the library and listen to them on my phone, which has been great for both my commute and my to-read list lately I don't seem to have the time or inclination to sit down and read books for long periods of time, so this is helping me feel less useless. In he published an article in the Nation in which he attacked a successful campaign by the Grand Camp of Confederate Veterans to have Virginia ban a history textbook that the veterans deemed an affront to southern honor.

Load more

  5

Copy Link