Erik Larson is most famous for writing "non-fiction novels." What I mean by this is that he's writing non-fiction, the stories are true. But, the books read like novels. In each book, he takes a historical event, and tells the story of that event through the eyes, or story, of some of the specific players. This is the first book of his that I've read - it was recommended to me by a friend.
Here, Larson wanted to look at the Germany of the 1930's. In 1933, America sent a new ambassador to Germany, William Dodd, who took his family along (wife, and adult son and daughter, Martha). Largely through the eyes of Dodd and Martha, Larson tells the story of the years immediatly after Hitler was made Chancellor. His main point seems to be that while those foreigners (such as Dodd) who were inside Germany at the time of Hitler's rise recognized him (and the Nazi party) for who they were - the folks "back home" in America (and other countries) just refused to accept that things were as bad as Dodd's letters made it seem.
Some of the book (an overly large amount, probably) focuses on Martha's various "relationships" with the variety of single (and married) men she met while in Berlin. While Larson seems to focus a bit much on the various relationships, I think the point he's trying to make is that some of the Germans, and other diplomats there at the time, were normal folks - prone to the same habits, mannerisms, and relationships as anyone else.
Anyway - I've read a lot of history books, including many on the Holocaust and World War II. The perspective of this book was new - and it was easy to get through the entire book. Just seems like a little of the relationship parts could have been removed without impacting the overall quality of the book.
This is an interesting book that tells of the first FDR ambassador to Nazi Germany and his family as they resided in Berlin in 1933 and after. The ambassador, a former college professor, and his wife and son and daughter move to Berlin and make their way through the Nazi regime. The daughter, particularly, is one of the main focuses of this book. She's in her mid-twenties and somewhat promiscuous, having affairs back in Chicago (possibly with Carl Sandburg and Thornton Wilder) before she left for Germany, and then having multiple affairs once she lived there. These affairs were not only with diplomats of European countries, but also a member of the Soviet embassy and the first head of the Gestapo.
ReplyDeleteThe book shows the gradual awakening of the daughter to the terrors and dangers of the Nazis. She and her family met all of the high-ranking ones, including Hitler himself. Although the ambassador tries to keep the US informed about the dangers of the Nazis to world peace, a cabal of Ivy League State Department types conspired to keep this info down and to paint the ambassador as naive and ineffective.