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

In 1933, a year that would prove to be a watershed in history, William E. Dodd is appointed as America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany in Berlin.

Dodd, a civil professor from Chicago, is accompanied by his wife, son, and daughter Martha, who is quite the showy one. Martha is first enthralled by the parties and extravagance, as well as the dashing young men of the Third Reich who exude an infectious passion for bringing Germany back to prominence on the international stage. She had several affairs, including one with the unexpectedly noble first head of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels, because she is enamored with the New Germany. 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 looks on in horror as drafts of terrifying new legislation start to circulate, the press is suppressed, and attacks against Jews occur. The Dodds have days full of excitement, intrigue, passion, and finally terror as that first year progresses and the shadows grow darker. In the end, a climactic spasm of violence and murder exposes Hitler's real nature and relentless desire.

Immersed in the tense atmosphere of the time, In the Garden of Beasts offers a stunning, firsthand account of events unfolding in real time, revealing an era of surprising nuance and complexity. Notable portraits of the bizarre Goring and the surprisingly charming, yet sinister, Goebbels complete the picture. The outcome is a stunning, engrossing book that explains why the world failed to acknowledge Hitler's serious danger until bloodshed and horror engulfed Berlin and Europe.