In 1933, William E. Dodd, a mild-mannered professor from Chicago, became America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany.

He took his family to Berlin.

Initially, they were entranced by the the pomp and grandeur of the New German Reich. They witnessed firsthand the restoration of Germany to world prominence.

Then they witnessed other things.

Persecution. Censorship. Extreme and violent nationalism. But Dodd’s reports were largely ignored by the U.S. State Department.

In his usual fashion, Erik Larson wields a range of sources to present a complex and nuanced story of an American family in the midst of nation that was on the verge of something grand and horrific.

How did it happen? Why did so few oppose it sooner? Could such a thing ever happen again?

Read the book.

We should talk about it.

Copies are available for checkout at the Circulation Desk