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

Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

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

15 reviews

rosa_lina96's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective tense slow-paced

3.25

While Erik Larson is a favorite author of mine and I have read or at least plan to read all of his nonfiction books, I feel like this one is not particularly his strongest. At its core, it's a dark and challenging read about the rise of Nazism in Germany seen through the eyes of an American diplomat, and a lesson in how fascism and hatred can slowly creep into a country or regime and then become suffocating without the proper attempts to strangle it. I feel that the sections of the book that attempt to warn against doing nothing in the face of creeping fascism (at least in my mind) do their job and do it well. As any book on Nazi Germany likely would be, it becomes at points both viscerally uncomfortable and yet impossible to look away from, especially as the main characters themselves begin to realize that they've been thrown into the whirlwind of a violent regime that is impossible to reason with.

However, I do think the narrative gets bogged down by unnecessary details in quite a few places. I don't think Larson truly needed to go into as much detail as he did about Martha and her romantic sojourns, nor did we need to spend so much time on the feud between Dodd and other government officials. I would have liked there to be more focus on Dodd as a whole, or on the German officials that he surrounded himself with in his days as an ambassador, which would have made the overall narrative feel much more fleshed out.

Overall, though, still an enlightening and uncomfortable read that serves to get its messages across. Vastly prefer Dead Wake and Devil in the White City out of his works.

Content Warnings

meganpbell's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.25

If you’re concerned about democracy and curious about comparisons to 1930s Germany, this worthwhile read follows America’s first ambassador to Nazi Germany and his family’s response—particularly his daughter, whose dalliances included the Gestapo chief and a Soviet spy—to the rise of Hitler. The result is a revealing, disturbing, and relevant depiction of moral complicity and political complexity and a dire warning about unexamined biases and underestimating evil.

Content Warnings

victoria_elaine06's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

3.75

I’m not usually a history fan, but this really grasped my attention. It is such an interesting perspective of a frequently told story. I loved the way it was written and the gradual changes that when compared to the start became extreme.

Content Warnings

wildadventures's review against another edition

Go to review page

fast-paced

4.25

Content Warnings

jrow's review against another edition

Go to review page

informative tense slow-paced

2.5

Content Warnings

mondovertigo's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

Content Warnings

dromedaryreader's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark informative medium-paced

3.5

Content Warnings

pbender's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark informative slow-paced

3.75

Content Warnings

myworldtoread's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark informative tense fast-paced

4.5

Content Warnings

zakcebulski's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.25

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.

Content Warnings

More...