Reviews with content warning for Genocide - In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

Erik Larson is quickly becoming one of those authors wherein I know I am in for a treat whenever I pick up one of his books.
I find the way that he covers historical periods by building layers and layers of context so very compelling. In the Garden of Beasts is far from an exception, however, I did find this book to be less enjoyable than his previous works I have read, while still being overflowing with information.

This book covers the Ambassadorship of a one Dr. William Dodd. William is a man of peculiar interests, attempting to write his treatise on the South after the American Civil War. However, this is largely put on hold when he is nominated and accepted to be the new Ambassador to Germany- a role he will hold from 1933 to 1937.
Dodd opts to take his family with him for his tour as ambassador, and they end up in Berlin. Now, as someone who is on the internet and is constantly bombarded with events that could be filed in to "living through these once in a lifetime events", I cannot think of someone who experienced that more than William Dodd and his family.
They arrived in Berlin right before Hitler's ascent to totalitarian power and bore witness to his total depravity and disregard for human life as he took what he believed to be his.

The way that the Nazi high command- Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, Borrman, Heydrich are all presented in this book is so fucking wild. There are instances of interviews with them wherein you remember that thought they are some of the most vile humans to ever walk this planet, they were that- humans. I think that that makes their abhorrent acts even scarier as they were able to do what they did. It was interesting to see how much fucking infighting and backstabbing there was in the Nazi party. I know Nazis are a bunch of whiny pieces of shit, but, holy hell they go at each other like they are in a shitty high school movie. It is incredible.

I also appreciate the insight in to how the State Department's petty desires to maintain their self images effectively led to Dodd being unable to initiate any counter to the Nazi's continued threatening advances.
These are not lowly folks either- one of the people continuously acting as a thorn in the foot of progress was Cordell Hull who helped to establish the UNITED NATIONS this is incredible. I loved the way that Larson had no qualms about showing the less great aspects of these people in history who typically have a bright and shiny exterior. It is also interesting to think about what would have happened if Dodd was able to mobilize FDR, or the State Department- would the Second World War have played out differently? I don't know enough to say, but, the fact that the people at top were so preoccupied with the spending habits of one of their colleagues is absolutely despicable.

The way in which Larson expertly describes the feelings of Dodd and his family as they live through Operation Hummingbird- or The Night of the Long Knives is absolutely terrifying. I can't imagine what it was like to live through a government sanctioned purge of political opponents, but, I think that Larson does a very good job of explaining the feeling. I found myself constantly wishing that things would turn out differently- but, ultimately, knowing it would not.

Overall, I thought that this was a very interesting read. I think that the story of William Dodd is one that is so niche that it feels like something out of a fictional movie. However, this is a first hand account of the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party- to have a first hand view of that is necessary to look back on so as to ensure that we learn from history. There were parts of this book that I found to drag on, frankly, but, that is the biggest slight that I have about this book. Otherwise, I found that the subject matter was absolutely fascinating. Reading about the slow crawl of the Nazis as they became more and more violent, more and more dangerous, and the frustration that arose as the Ambassador was constantly arrested from progress was endlessly frustrating.

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4.0

This is the second of Erik Larson's books that I've read, and I found this one to be more engaging by a wide margin throughout the duration of the book. It was incredibly disconcerting to hear about the rampant anti-Semitism of America in the 1930s to 1940s. To hear about a person who is theoretically friends with multiple Jewish individuals, working to stop the atrocities against Jews in Hitler's Germany, and representing the United States in a volatile political sphere lament that he had too many Jews on his staff, and how he wished there were less despite most of them being his best employees. I never quite understand antisemitism, and I remain confused by the doublethink needed to maintain the opinions that these people in positions of power had. For Jewish people of prominence in Berlin being willing to maintain acquaintances, and to some extent, friendships with Nazi sympathizers, people who are friends with Nazis, and straight up Nazis was deeply disconcerting, but also somewhat understandable considering the political climate of the time and the deep desire to fit into avoid violent backlash. The mock trial that took place in New York was really interesting to read about, as were the physical and emotional descriptions of Hitler. He exists as a figurehead in our current comprehension of historical events, and through that lens I forgot how small Germany and the Nazi party is when compared to the US and the size of the US government which I am used to. Overall, this book made me uncomfortable but I am glad that I read it. To hear about the optimism visitors and Germans had for the third Reich and to see how people just brushed incidents of assault and murder under the rug in order to keep the Rose colored view of the world has exacerbated my fears for the future and for the possibility of history repeating itself.
Overall, this was really well written and Larson integrated quotes from primary sources into the narrative artfully. The narrative he wove using the variety of primary source documents he used made the story very engaging despite my discomfort at the subject matter.

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