I have yet to read an Erik Larson book that I haven’t really enjoyed, but his In the Garden of Beasts is on a different level for me. It details the life of the American diplomat to Germany in Berlin from 1933 to 1937, showing how Germany went from a country that was still largely normal, just with a leader with aspirations of becoming a dictator, to a country that was the Third Reich. The events of those four years really bring to light the gradual sea change that occurred that let what happened in Germany, happen. They show how this wasn’t some sort of situation where an entire country “turned evil” over night, but rather it was a series of small changes that led to a point where a big change could happen and no one would really object.
It’s important to note Larson wrote the book in 2011, long before Trump’s rise to power here in America. For me, this allows him to be a neutral party when it comes to the events of the present day. And make no mistake about it: it is very easy to draw parallels between the events of 1933-1937 and what’s happening here right now. The biggest red flag I saw was how Hitler’s bizarre behavior (blatant anti-semitism, bombastic speaking, envelope pushing, and general rabble rousing) laid the groundwork so he could go from that to ordering the government to assassinate over 100 citizens in a single night, and get away with it. The nation watched, shocked, but he assured them all that the people he’d had to execute in public were traitors to the nation, and he took that step to protect Germany.
While some people objected, not enough of them did, and none of them objected strongly enough to put a stop to the madness.
Hitler told the people what they wanted to hear. He promised economic prosperity, and assured them all he would make Germany great again. He lied about little things so that when he lied about big things, it didn’t make a difference. He surrounded himself with people with ambitions of power and very little in the way of moral scruples. Bit by bit, he turned on the people who weren’t willing to go as far as he wanted them to.
The Dodds (the American ambassador and his family) started out fairly pro-German in 1933. Dodd had studied at the university in Leipzig in his college years. His daughter even confessed she was pro-Nazi when she first came to the country. But through the things they saw over those four years, they realized exactly what was happening, even while so many people refused to acknowledge it.
This is an important book to read, though I doubt a 13-year-old book would do much to persuade anyone at this point. If you haven’t read it, give it a shot. I thought it was fantastic. I only hope the events in Germany are never repeated here in America.