In the Garden of Beasts

I rushed through all my evening chores each night this week so I could get back to reading Erik Larson's book, In the Garden of Beasts. It's about two Americans, the ambassador to Germany and his daughter, who experienced Nazi Germany as it emerged.

It's amazing to think how many years went by and people did nothing about Hitler's Germany. Apparently US politicians were worried that Germany wouldn't pay off its World War I debts and didn't want to upset the government with criticism that might make them less motivated to hand the money over.

Ambassador Dodd and his daughter Martha make unsympathetic characters. Martha was infatuated with the new Germany and had affairs with Nazis and a Russian spy. Their butler later said it wasn't so much a house they lived in as a house of ill repute.

You should read this book. It's riveting. I was in a church last night to rehearse hymns for a BBC show called Songs of Praise but I even pulled the book about Hitler out to read there, it was so compelling. (Another chorus was rehearsing before us.) I saw Jesus up on the cross in front of me but I'm sure he didn't mind me having a book about Nazis in his house.