In the Garden of Beasts:
Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson is a
book which Larson does best: an intelligent non-fiction narrative that reads like
fiction. The title is a bit salacious,
but Larson must sell books.
As the Dodd family
becomes more exposed to the nascent Nazi government, it is difficult not to
draw parallels with today’s events. The United
State government fails to realize the Nazi menace, or decides to ignore it due
to more pressing matters.
Ambassador Dodd realizes, fairly quickly, that the Nazis mean to conquer
all of Europe, regardless of their protestations of peace.
We are now knocking on a door much like this. When a radical menace
exists, how do we act? Do we hope that
menace will mellow with power? Do we take
steps to meet and squash that menace? Do we trample the rules of democracy to save democracy from autocrats? Difficult questions.
Looking back, it is obvious that France and Britain should have invaded
Germany once they began to militarize in violation of the Versailles
Treaty. They had a window, but no one
stepped through it, and millions upon millions died.
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