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52 in 2011
Jun. 8th, 2011 09:07 am44. Murder on Sister's Row by VIctoria Thompson
An incredibly lightweight entry in this ongoing mystery series set in late 1800s New York. The number of possible suspects is so small as to make figuring out the killer fairly simple. The characters are mere sketches -- only one of the possible suspects displays anything like a real personality or depth. The romance between the main cnaracters does not advance one iota. Thompson has done better and I hope she will do better again. Wait for the paperback.
45. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson
This book tells the true story of the American ambassador to Germany in the mid-1930s and his fairly wild daughter as they navigate the politics, personalities and outright terror of living in the early days of the Third Reich. One forgets that Hitler had been in power for quite a while before he invaded Poland and started WWII. In 20/20 hindsight, it should have been obvious that Hitler and his government were profoundly dangerous. Part of what makes this book astounding is how many people excused the violence and profound anti-Semitism that were clearly on display from the earliest days of the Hitler regime. What's also startling to someone who grew up in the NYC metropolitan area surrounded by Jewish culture is how common anti-Semitism really was in the1930s in Europe and the United States.
Notably, while trying to deal with all of the many and various problems in Germany, Ambassador Dodd was also beseiged at home by the "old boys club" that ran the Foreign Service and the State Department. If one ever needed proof that the inherent disfunctions in American politics are nothing new, here it is.
My one criticism of this otherwise fascinating book is that it focuses exclusively on the experiences, actions and feelings of Ambassador Dodd and his daughter. His son and wife have walk-on roles at best. I know that this is because Dodd and Martha (the daughter) left us extensive primary source writings, but I feel somewhat cheated even so.
An incredibly lightweight entry in this ongoing mystery series set in late 1800s New York. The number of possible suspects is so small as to make figuring out the killer fairly simple. The characters are mere sketches -- only one of the possible suspects displays anything like a real personality or depth. The romance between the main cnaracters does not advance one iota. Thompson has done better and I hope she will do better again. Wait for the paperback.
45. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson
This book tells the true story of the American ambassador to Germany in the mid-1930s and his fairly wild daughter as they navigate the politics, personalities and outright terror of living in the early days of the Third Reich. One forgets that Hitler had been in power for quite a while before he invaded Poland and started WWII. In 20/20 hindsight, it should have been obvious that Hitler and his government were profoundly dangerous. Part of what makes this book astounding is how many people excused the violence and profound anti-Semitism that were clearly on display from the earliest days of the Hitler regime. What's also startling to someone who grew up in the NYC metropolitan area surrounded by Jewish culture is how common anti-Semitism really was in the1930s in Europe and the United States.
Notably, while trying to deal with all of the many and various problems in Germany, Ambassador Dodd was also beseiged at home by the "old boys club" that ran the Foreign Service and the State Department. If one ever needed proof that the inherent disfunctions in American politics are nothing new, here it is.
My one criticism of this otherwise fascinating book is that it focuses exclusively on the experiences, actions and feelings of Ambassador Dodd and his daughter. His son and wife have walk-on roles at best. I know that this is because Dodd and Martha (the daughter) left us extensive primary source writings, but I feel somewhat cheated even so.
