IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS by Erik Larson (non-fic)

You may know Erik Larson from his best seller "The Devil and White City."  As a witness to history, this book is even better.  William Dodd, a Chicago academic, was tapped by Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 to be the Ambassador to Germany.  Dodd, a dry, forthright, honest (seemingly unimaginative) man was way way down the list of Roosevelt's choices.  Dodd and his family go to Germany, and he serves for the five years of Hitler's rise to power.  Through Dodd and his his daughter Martha we see the inevitable outcome of Hitler's demagoguery.  Martha is the most interesting character in the book.  How she evolved from such staid and conservative parents is a study in itself.  She was a liberated woman well before the term was invented.  She conducted herself like a daughter of the 1960s when sexual freedom was considered a right.  Among her lovers were Carl Sandberg, Thomas Wolfe, Rudolf Diels, Boris Winogradov (a committed communist), not to mention a number of others she was somewhat involved with.  Oh, and did I mention, she had a soon to be divorced husband back in the States.  Because of Martha's social contacts, along with her father's diplomatic contacts, and their copious correspondence and diaries, we are the richer in being able to see through this window into the past.  If only, if only we would learn from the past.  Over and over, world shattering events that touch us all, march along gaining strength, while most of us stand by mutely until it is too late.  This is a wonderful book to set one thinking.  It is so well written that it reads like a novel full of suspense and horror seen through first hand accounts.  I highly recommend "The Garden of Beasts," it is an excellent choice for a book group.  There is copious material for many good discussions.