I found this account of a diplomatic family’s front row seat to the rise of the Third Reich fascinating. Larson has a knack for digging into historical turn points and presenting them with the aura of a thriller. In the Garden of Beasts details not only the rise of the Nazi Party, but also the world’s blindness to what was happening in 1930’s Berlin.
The atmosphere of the period, in all its bizarreness and impending horror, is captured brilliantly.