In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
Discussion questions
1. In his prologue Erik Larson writes, “There are no heroes here, at least not of the Schindler’s List variety, but there are glimmers of heroism.” What examples of heroism are found in this history? Who were the greatest cowards?
2. What is the significance of the title, derived from a literal translation of the word Tiergarten? What is captured in the deceptive beauty of the garden, a refuge for many of the men and women described in the book? What does it take to transform a beautiful creature into a “beast”?
3. Studying for his doctorate in Leipzig, William Dodd researched American history while he was a student far from his homeland. Returning to Germany decades later, what did he discover about his homeland by looking at it as an outsider?
4. Dodd went to Germany believing that Hitler would have a positive influence on the country. Why were so many people at first enamored of Nazism and willing to accede to Hitler’s demands? What was German society like when the Dodd family arrived in Berlin? Which aspects of life in Berlin during this time period were most surprising?
5. Was Dodd an admirable man? What role did class and wealth play in how he was viewed by his diplomatic peers at the State Department? Would Hitler have been more intimidated by an American ambassador who lived lavishly?
6. In the Garden of Beasts captures the years when most outsiders refused to believe Hitler was anything more than a passing sideshow. Dodd even sympathized with Hitler’s belief that the Versailles Treaty gave Germany a raw deal and that American banks were charging Germany unfair interest rates. Without the benefit of hindsight, should people both inside and outside Germany have been alarmed by its political situation in the early 1930s?
7. How was it possible for Dodd and Foreign Service officer George Messersmith to have such different perceptions, initially, of the same circumstances? What incident(s) made Dodd begin to suspect the rumors he had been hearing about Nazi brutality were true?
8. Why did Messersmith’s warnings — and, later, those of Dodd and numerous others —about Hitler fall on indifferent ears in the United States? What was the primary concern of the U.S. in relation to Germany? Was this stance one of purposeful ignorance or of sheer disbelief?
9. Dodd longed to have time to write a complete history of the rise and fall of America’s Old South, the land of his ancestors. Did his specialization in Southern history help him navigate Hitler’s Germany, and if so, how?
10. How was Martha able to appear youthful and innocent yet also sophisticated? What made her attractive to such a broad variety of men, from literary figures to military leaders? What type of man was she most attracted to?
11. Were Martha’s character and behavior admirable? Did she purposely allow herself to be blinded by Ernst Udet, the World War I flying ace involved in the Luftwaffe (air force), and Rudolf Diels, head of the Gestapo, or was she truly dazzled by their charms? Her promiscuity could have made her a serious liability, but her parents seemed untroubled by her multiple love affairs. Why didn’t they try to reign in her behavior?
12. Was Martha’s relationship with Boris Winogradov, first secretary of the Soviet Embassy in Germany, genuine? What allure did the Soviet Union have for her? Why was she drawn to travel there and, later, to spy for the Soviets?
13. What was the Dodd family’s attitude toward Jews? How did they interact with the Panofsky family, their landlords? Did America’s own anti-Semitism play a role in dismissing the growing chorus of concern about the policies of the Third Reich?
14. What was Hitler’s formula for establishing control, despite limited military and economic means? How did the slow buildup of popular support occur? What was the effect of the power struggles within Hitler’s regime? How did paranoia both help and hinder Hitler’s cause?
15. The book’s subtitle is “Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin.” What dynamic was at play in the Dodd household overseas? Against this backdrop, what forms of love thrived?
16. When she returned to the United States, Martha married Alfred K. Stern and the couple became spies for the Soviet Union; they were convicted of espionage charges in the 1950s and forced to live abroad. She also published anti-Fascist novels. Was she a fighter for equality acting on principle or was she a traitor to her country? Did she remain naïve in some way?
17. How does Erik Larson portray Hitler? Does he humanize him or present him as a monster? How does he depict Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Göring and other higher-ups in the Nazi party?
18. In what ways has Hitler’s formula been repeated elsewhere? Why didn’t the lessons from the Holocaust prevent future genocides such as those in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur? What role do economic concerns have in foreign policy today and how do they influence human rights?
About the author
Erik Larson was born on January 3, 1954 in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Freeport, Long Island. He received a B.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976, studying Russian history, and a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in 1978. His first newspaper job was with the Bucks County Courier Times in Levittown, Pennsylvania. He later became a features writer for the Wall Street Journal and Time magazine, where he is still a contributing writer. His magazine stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, and other publications.
Larson’s books, all non-fiction, include The Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public Commodities (1992), Lethal Passage: The Story of a Gun (1995), Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History (1999), The Devil in the White City (2003), Thunderstruck (2006), In the Garden of Beasts (2011), and Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (2015). The Devil in the White City won the 2004 Edgar Award in the Best Fact Crime category. Larson appeared in a TV film of Isaac’s Storm, based on his book, in 2004. A film of The Devil in the White City is in production, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Larson has taught non-fiction writing at San Francisco State University, the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, and the University of Oregon. He and his wife have three daughters. They reside in New York City, but maintain a home in Seattle, Washington.