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

"Larson is a marvelous writer...superb at creating characters with a few short strokes."--New York Times Book Review

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.

The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history.

A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the "New Germany," she has one affair after another, including with the suprisingly honorable first chief of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels. But as evidence of Jewish persecution mounts, confirmed by chilling first-person testimony, her father telegraphs his concerns to a largely indifferent State Department back home. Dodd watches with alarm as Jews are attacked, the press is censored, and drafts of frightening new laws begin to circulate. As that first year unfolds and the shadows deepen, the Dodds experience days full of excitement, intrigue, romance--and ultimately, horror, when a climactic spasm of violence and murder reveals Hitler's true character and ruthless ambition.

Suffused with the tense atmosphere of the period, and with unforgettable portraits of the bizarre G ring and the expectedly charming--yet wholly sinister--Goebbels, In the Garden of Beasts lends a stunning, eyewitness perspective on events as they unfold in real time, revealing an era of surprising nuance and complexity. The result is a dazzling, addictively readable work that speaks volumes about why the world did not recognize the grave threat posed by Hitler until Berlin, and Europe, were awash in blood and terror.

Author: Erik Larson
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
Published: 05/10/2011
Pages: 464
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.55lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.40w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9780307408846

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 9.7
Point Value: 22
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 152519 / In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

Award: Chautauqua Prize - Finalist
Award: Washington State Book Award - Winner

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 03/01/2011 pg. 15
Library Journal 04/01/2011 pg. 94
Publishers Weekly 03/21/2011
Kirkus Reviews 04/15/2011
People Weekly 05/23/2011 pg. 49
New York Times Book Review 06/12/2011 pg. 13
Men's Journal 07/01/2011 pg. 80
New York Times Book Review 06/19/2011 pg. 26
Publishers Weekly Best Books 11/07/2011 pg. 32
NY Times Notable Bks of Year 12/04/2011 pg. 26
Kirkus Best Books 12/01/2011 pg. 2207
Reference and Research Bk News 08/01/2011 pg. 41

About the Author
Erik Larson is the author of six New York Times bestsellers, most recently The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, which examines how Winston Churchill and his "Secret Circle" went about surviving the German air campaign of 1940-41. Larson's The Devil in the White City is set to be a Hulu limited series; his In the Garden of Beasts is under option by Tom Hanks for a feature film. He recently published an audio-original ghost story, No One Goes Alone, which has been optioned by Chernin Entertainment, in association with Netflix. His Thunderstruck has been optioned by Sony Pictures Television for a limited TV series. Larson lives in Manhattan with his wife, who is a writer and retired neonatologist; they have three grown daughters.