In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

Having loved Larson's Devil in the White City, I knew I was in for a nice break from the heavy historical works I've been reading lately.

Although Larson's works read like fiction, they are in fact historical.  He states up front that all quotes from the book come from actual documents.

In Beasts, Larson tells the story of William Dodd, an American ambassador to Germany from 1933-1937, the period when the world just began to understand Adolf Hitler's true colors.

Which is to say that Dodd and his family did not fully understand Hitler's intentions when they arrived in Berlin for the start of Dodd's ambassadorship.  Hitler had just risen to the chancellorship of Germany the year prior.

Dodd and his family bear witness to the slow but persistent trance that Hitler placed on Germany.  Upon their arrival, all seemed well, even though Dodd began the job with a high degree of skepticism about Hitler and his Nazi party.

Gradually, ever so gradually, the Dodds experienced the change.  As outsiders with diplomatic immunity, they could witness the changes up close without fear for their personal safety.

And one by one everyone around them did become fearful.  Very fearful.

Much of the story centers on Dodd's daughter Martha, a 20-something, adventurous divorcee, who arrived in Berlin with complete naivete about Hitler and the Nazis.  She was charmed with the young Nazis she met and the charming optics of life in Berlin.  Order, cleanliness and beauty surrounded her.

But over the next few years that perspective changed 180 degrees as she experienced the hatred, lawlessness and filth that lay beneath the surface.

Beasts has helped me experience the vivid detail of life in Nazi Germany in the lead up to the war.