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- Apr 14, 2006
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Just finished In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson (who is also the author of The Devil in the White City). It is about William Dodd, the U.S. ambassador to Germany from mid-1933 to the end of 1937. While it gives some background, it is not a biography per se. Rather, it focuses on the 4 and 1/2 years that he and his family were in Berlin.
Ambassador Dodd warned time and again that Hitler was dangerous and Germany preparing for war. But many people, including the U.S. State Department, were convinced that things were not as bad as he said and that they would be able to "work with" the Nazis. It is intriguing (and sad) to see how, little by little, an entire society went mad and the rest of the world did nothing until it was too late.
Ambassador Dodd warned time and again that Hitler was dangerous and Germany preparing for war. But many people, including the U.S. State Department, were convinced that things were not as bad as he said and that they would be able to "work with" the Nazis. It is intriguing (and sad) to see how, little by little, an entire society went mad and the rest of the world did nothing until it was too late.