Book Mention: In the Garden of Beasts

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin tells the story of U.S. Ambassador Dodd's time in Germany during the Nazi regime's mid-30's consolidation of power.  Oh, here, just go read the Wikipedia summary of the book.  It's not as if you don't already know how this ends so there really can't be any spoilers, and whoever wrote that paragraph distilled things down better than I can.

Now that you're back from that sidebar, the thing that is striking about this book is Larson's portrayal of the atmosphere in Germany, especially Berlin at the time.  People there know that bad things are happening, but are unsure as to how bad they are and what should be the proper response.  Blame is shifted, questions are deflected by the authorities, and things muddle along toward the cataclysm of World War II.  The best that can be said is that at least Dodd and a few others tried to call the bluff.  In the end, after being recalled in the late 30's, Dodd expended the last of his strength on an "I tried to tell you so" speaking tour in the U.S.  On the whole, it probably did a lot of good, at least as much as one aging college history professor could manage.

The author makes an interesting comment in his closing acknowledgements:

What I did not realize as I ventured into those dark days of Hitler's rule was how much the darkness would infiltrate my own soul.

While Larson bore the brunt of this during his deep-dive into the source material while researching for this book, a reader will get a tinge of this darkness too.  It's a very good work, but approach with caution if you're in a rough patch of life.  Overall though, I highly recommend.

Bonus Link: the author's web page has a few good tidbits and some press blurbs.  Again, don't worry about spoilers.  You already know how this thing turns out, so go have a look if you're considering this book.