This post is a part of an original series created by librarians/media specialists across Central Minnesota featuring books.

Title: In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson

Written by Maria Burnham, Media Specialist at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School

The first Erik Larson book I read was Devil in the White City, and I couldn’t believe how mesmerized I was by the content, the characters, the storyline.  I have to say that I love non-fiction that reads like fiction.  After all, I even have a whole section of my library called “Non-Fiction Narrative” so students who like true stories but can’t find these non-fiction books that read like novels amongst the more factual and reference-like books in the non-fiction section.

In the Garden of Beasts was exceptionally written.  A fascinating tale of the Dodd family who moved over the Berlin, Germany pre-WWII.  William A. Dodd was named the United States Ambassador to Germany in 1933, and he remained ambassador until 1937.  The book tells both of his journey as a man struggling to maintain his “Jeffersonian” beliefs in a profession that’s renowned for lavish parties and extravagant social situations and of his struggle to clearly and accurately relay the tone of Berlin back to the U.S. during the rise of Hitler and the blacklisting of Jews. And perhaps even a more fascinating element of the story, is the journey of Martha, Dodd’s daughter, who was quite “friendly” with Nazi soldiers and eventually became an agent for the Communist party.

This book is a captivating tale of Germany and the Dodd family journey.  It certainly left me wanting to know more about the rise of Hitler.  Perhaps I’ll be checking out more non-fiction books this summer to satisfy my craving!