In the Garden of Beasts

Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

By: Erik Larson

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Erik Larson has been widely acclaimed as a master of narrative non-fiction, and in his new book, the best-selling 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 Göring 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 listenable 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.

©2011 Stephen Hoye (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"In this mesmerizing portrait of the Nazi capital, Larson plumbs a far more diabolical urban cauldron than in his bestselling The Devil in the White City... a vivid, atmospheric panorama of the Third Reich and its leaders, including murderous Nazi factional infighting, through the accretion of small crimes and petty thuggery." ( Publishers Weekly)

"By far his best and most enthralling work of novelistic history….Powerful, poignant…a transportingly true story." ( The New York Times)

"[L]ike slipping slowly into a nightmare, with logic perverted and morality upended….It all makes for a powerful, unsettling immediacy." (Bruce Handy, Vanity Fair)

Pretty good but not amazing

The history is fascinating, but the narrative was dry. Not as good as Devil in the White City.

Lecture like

Would you recommend In the Garden of Beasts to your friends? Why or why not?

If they were wanting a historical viewpoint on Germany prior to WWII then yes.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Overall this book was more like listening to a lecture than a story.

Could you see In the Garden of Beasts being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

It is already a movie which I haven't seen.

Really brought story to life

I knew the story of Dodd and still found it engaging and suspenseful. Really great read. Enjoyed it a lot.

Garden Of Beasts A Different Side of History

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes, I would recommend this book, as a true story with Hitler and the horror of Nazi Germany is usually often stranger than fiction. This book has all the characters, time frame, and an unusual American Ambassador and his family to be amazing. I was just disappointed that it was told so lecture style. I felt the drama of the situations were not told well. Accurate but too much like an essay.

Would you be willing to try another book from Erik Larson? Why or why not?

Yes, and I have read "Devil In The White City" which I thought was better.

Did Stephen Hoye do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Very good. He can pronounce German very well. But this story gave him little opportunity to create voices for his characters.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

OH YES! A movie will give the characters more life.This should make a fantastic movie. The love story, the fear of Hitler and his diabolical plans, and the political intrigues sounds perfect for a good film-maker.

History is scarey

Erik Larson is a wonderful story teller. This practically reads like a novel, but it is real and his sources are fascinating. And of course the setting is guaranteed to make the hair rise on the back of your neck. You just keep thinking "why didn't someone stop this?" But they didn't.

Real life drama with much melancholy and failure

Real life drama with much melancholy and failure. Not for the Hallmark channel. Filler words for stupid length requirement, ummm.

Excellent!

Fascinating detailed account of a historical figure I knew nothing about, but it's written by Erik Larson so I knew it would be great story.

Amazing book, great audio

What made the experience of listening to In the Garden of Beasts the most enjoyable?

Stephen Hoye was a great narrator and I could actually hear every word he was saying

What was one of the most memorable moments of In the Garden of Beasts?

When Ambassador Dodd goes back to the US and realizes his word means nothing to those at the State Department and decides he should step down.

What does Stephen Hoye bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His narration brought out all the personalities throughout all the ethnicities. He actually made me feel sorry for some of the Nazi soldiers.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The book made me angry that the US was so isolationist at that time and wouldn't believe the horrible things that were going on in Germany or that it was their responsibility to do something about it. Really shows how its the people around a president who frame their policies. It also made me feel bad for Ambassador Dodd because he knew the right thing to do regarding his budget and the policies of Germany, but he got knocked down so many times that he finally had to stop getting back up.

Wonderful story of diplomacy and intrigue!

Although not as much of a page turning thriller as Dead Wake, this tale of diplomacy during Hitler's rise to power is told with great attention to detail and emphasis on the human side of things. Ambassador Dodd's daughter Martha is the star of the show, as she runs around Berlin with Germans, Russians and Americans alike, while Dodd plods away behind a desk, trying to orchestrate a measured response to each of the increasingly brazen efforts by Hitler, Goebels, Himmler and Goering to rise to power. Larson' ear for dialogue is keen and punctuates many of the more dramatic moments of the book, thereby removing this account from the typically dry approach to diplomatic history.

Great Larson Novel

Great reader, good Lasron story. Not as good as Devil in the White as far as the story, but I did get a great sense for what it was like in 1933-1934 Germany and lead me to re-up on my history of the how such a terrible thing could happen.