Martha was pretty insufferable and ultimately I had no idea why so much time was spent on her affairs. I also found it strange that he would choose to spend some 200 pages on the first year the Dodds were in Berlin and a scant 30 pages or so on the last 3 years they were there. We all know we don't want something like this to happen again. Martha's memoir seems to have been particularly revealing in regard to her initial fascination with the Nazis and subsequent disillusionment. I will read this book again because I probably missed a lot in the first reading. Dodd and his wife agreed to the position and so they left for Berlin, he also invited his two grown children Martha and Bill. The sense of impending dread and souls being consumed by the Reich’s madness is palpable. He’s set up by the Feds and captured then offered a choice between working for them to assassinate a key Nazi official, Reinhold Ernst, or face the gas chamber. Find books like In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin from the world’s largest community of readers. Interesting interplay of people from all sorts of perspectives in several countries. Characterization was very, very important in this novel as we follow American Gangster Paul Schumman, a hired killer, who is blackmailed into an assasination plot. The book is about a “button-man” named Paul. Jeffrey Deaver may be the master of psychological thrillers, but. Who may be connected to whom? Book Review of : In The Garden of Beasts Erik Larson has been widely acclaimed as a master of narrative non-fiction, and in his new book, the bestselling author of Devil in the White City turns his hand to a remarkable story set during Hitler’s rise to power. I think there are some applicable lessons in this volume that apply to situations that are current. In an interview Jeffery Deaver said his favorite character was probably Otto Weber, and after reading the book a second time, I concur! Their experiences serve as both a cautionary tale about the insidiousness of evil and a harbinger of the hard realization that the rest of America was forced to make in a few short years. One of the few remaining honest, hard working German detectives who has not bought into Nazism, is assigned to that case, and finds himself possibly in out of his depth. b. Schopenhauer If you are a history aficionado like me, especially if you are intrigued by Germany during the time of the Third Reich, then this is the book for you. Martha when she arrived in Berlin found she liked Germany and the people and commented them as being better than the Parisian, obviously this was before Hitler showed his face and colors of evil and his propaganda was widespread. Read it and find out! If you're mostly a fiction reader, this book still has the appeal of a novel. Interested, I gravitate towards the book and read the summary. The rest is history the persecutions of Jews and all non Arian is well documented the author is trying to give us a pigeon hole on how it was for this family amongst the turmoil and documents the ambassadors interactions with Hitler's Germany. Visit webpage for Video interview with the author. Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin. Under the cover of the 1936 Olympics mobster hitman Paul Schumann is targeting Reinhard Ernst, a key figure in the rearmament of Germany. He is unmatched in his ability to tell a story. This main character can certainly be in sequels, but I don't think there are any. The story is of William Dodd, a mild-mannered college professor who is appointed ambassador to Germany after basically everyone else refuses the job. A human side shown for most of the characters, even some of the Nazi's. I like how Deaver uses a slang to a hit-man. Anyhow - I now understand how the whole world just kind of let Hitler happen, until it was too late. This book comes a little closer to answering the question. He brings his wife, his college age son, and his promiscuous married daughter. Martha, separated from her husband and in th… I feel as if the incremental evil perpetrated by the Nazis desensitized people and caused them to ignore it. One of the few remaining honest, hard working German detectives who has not bought into Nazism, is assigned to that case, and finds himself possibly in out of his depth. Read "In the Garden of Beasts Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin" by Erik Larson available from Rakuten Kobo. This is the newest book by the author who wrote The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America. Did they have too much faith in the system? 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