In the Garden of Bests is the story of William Dodd and his family, who moved from Chicago to Berlin in 1933. FDR chose William Dodd, who was, at the time, a Professor of History at the University of Chicago, as the American Ambassador to Germany. The book jacket refers to Mr. Dodd as the first Ambassador to “Hitler’s Germany,” since Hitler had been appointed Germany’s Chancellor in the beginning of 1933. Mr. Dodd had no previous diplomatic experience, but felt himself up to the task; his primary aim was to fulfill his diplomatic obligations while living within the means of his $17,500 salary. At that time, most diplomats were old Harvard buddies who were all independently wealthy and usually spent more than 5 times their salary on lavish parties and expensive mansions. One example of Mr. Dodd’s frugality that was pointed to throughout the book was his trusted Chevy, which he had shipped over to Berlin so that he would not have to buy an unnecessarily expensive German car. As a way of keeping his living expenses down, Mr. Dodd leased the first 3 floors of a house that was owned by an extremely wealthy Jewish banker. The banker and his family continued to live in the top floor of the house; Erik Larson suggests that this Jewish family proposed this living arrangement to Mr. Dodd because it would mean that they would no doubt be safer living in the house of the American ambassador.
Much of this story also centers on Mr. Dodd’s daughter, Martha. Martha was 25 at the time that she moved with her parents to Berlin, and was determined to enjoy herself and experience all that Berlin had to offer. Because of the year that Martha arrived in Berlin, this meant that she soon became a regular among the circle of powerful Nazis that dined and drank and entertained nightly throughout Berlin’s restaurants and night clubs. Martha had many affairs with many men – among them Nazis, writers, and a KGB agent.
In the Garden of Beasts was written in very short chapters, with a lot of foreshadowing. Much of the story comes from letters and diaries, which are all extremely well cited in the back of the book. By presenting the story in this way, the reader is allowed to form his or her own opinion of Mr. Dodd and whether or not he was successfully fulfilling his duties. I, personally, became frustrated with Mr. Dodd’s criticisms of other diplomats and his intense focus on those diplomats who spent without regard for budgets (one of his primary criticisms was that telegrams from his office to the US were too long, which meant that they were more costly). He frequently wrote letters to his superiors, complaining about other diplomats and was then surprised that these supposedly confidential letters were cited in the press. I wondered what would have happened had he been more vocal in his criticisms or worries about the Hitler regime (about which he wrote frequently in his diary, but – in my opinion – not nearly enough in his letters or updates to the US).
Eventually, Mr. Dodd’s adversaries (the wealthy old-school diplomats) prevailed, and FDR asked Mr. Dodd to resign his post, which he did in December 1937. After he resigned his post, he travelled the US, giving speeches that warned of the dangers posed by Hitler – the beginnings of which he had seen firsthand in Berlin. It is hard for me to say that I LOVED this book because using the word “LOVE” when describing a book about Hitler does not seem like an appropriate description. I give the book a *****star rating, however, because it was so gripping, and interesting, and clearly written. I read the book in about a day, and when I finished I was sad to put it down. It was so interesting to have that insider’s view to what it was like to live in Hitler’s Berlin that I was disappointed that it essentially ended in 1937. Because I was disappointed that it was finished, I believe that In the Garden of Beasts deserves a ****star rating, and I highly recommend it.
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