Descriptions, Reviews, etc.
Description:
"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 fath
Review Quotes: "By far his best and most enthralling work of novelistic history . . . rich with incident, populated by fascinating secondary characters, tinged with rising peril . . . Powerful, poignant . . . a transportingly true story."--The New York Times
"Reads like an elegant thriller . . . utterly compelling . . . marvelous stuff. You really couldn't invent it in a novel because no one would believe you . . . An excellent and entertaining book."
--Washington Post "A dazzling amalgam of reportage . . . Reads like a suspense novel, replete with colorful characters, both familiar and those previously relegated to the shadows. Like Christopher Isherwood's
Berlin Stories or Victor Klemperer's diaries,
In the Garden of Beasts is an on-the-ground documentary of a society going mad in slow motion."
--Chicago Sun-Times "Fascinating . . . Larson--a master at writing true tales as riveting as fiction--creates a nuanced, eyewitness account."
--People "Larson has meticulously researched the Dodds' intimate witness to Hitler's ascendancy and created an edifying narrative of this historical byway that has all the pleasures of a political thriller . . . a fresh picture of these terrible events."
--The New York Times Book Review "Larson, a master of historical nonfiction, has written a fascinating book [that], although carefully researched and documented, reads like a political thriller . . . highly recommended to anyone interested in the rise of the Third Reich and America's role in that process."
--Jewish Book World "Larson excels at examining a dramatic moment in time by constructing intersecting stories: the big, historical story and the smaller, more human one--each illuminating and enriching the other. Larson's strengths as a storyteller have never been stronger than they are here. . . . How the United States dithered as Hitler rose to power is a cautionary tale that bears repeating, and Larson has told it masterfully."
--Cleveland Plain Dealer "Larson has done it again, expertly weaving together a fresh new narrative from ominous days of the twentieth century."
--Associated Press "Mesmerizing . . . cinematic, improbable yet true."
--Philadelphia Inquirer "Compelling . . . the kind of book that brings history alive."
--USA Today "Gripping . . . a nightmare narrative of a terrible time. It raises the question never fully answered about the Nazi era--what evil humans are capable of, and what means are necessary to cage the beast."
--Seattle Times "A stunning work of history."
--Newsweek "Tells a fascinating story brilliantly well."
--Financial Times "A cautionary tale not to be missed."
--Washington Times "Highly compelling . . . Larson brings Berlin roaring to life in all its glamour and horror . . . a welcome new chapter in the vast canon of World War II literature."
--Christian Science Monitor
