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

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

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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