In the Garden of Beasts

Damn Nazis!  It would be so weird to live in a time right before the Nazi's really took control and you would think, hmmm, lets see where they are going with this....then, WTF!  Maybe you would have thought, I'm not crazy about the random secret police beatings but the fancy uniforms they are so snazzy!  In the Garden of Beasts is a non-fiction book about the American ambassador to Berlin in the 30's and his slutty young adult daughter.  Now listen, women's sexual liberation is awesome, but damn girl!  She slept with Nazis, French diplomats and Communists, all at the same time.  I'm sorry but that's modern you-are-not-the-father-Maury-Povich slutty. This was the 30's mind you, how she didn't get Nazi gonorrhea is beyond me. 

This history book is not boring, no, if you've ever read an Erik Larson book, you know he can make history positively salacious.  According to his afterword, his wife reads his books and puts zzzzzzz's in the margins.  She also puts sad faces with people crying, so we have her to thank for making it interesting. 

The ambassador, who was FDR's sixth choice, was an college professor that was fairly ill suited for the job.  One of the reasons Dodd took the gig is so he would have time to finish his academic book.  It gives that "publish or perish" saying new meaning.  Don't worry, things work out....wait, no they don't.

Oddly it seems that if it wasn't for the damn Nazi's, 30's Berlin would have been really lovely. Garden strolls in the summer and they went crazy with the Christmas trees during the holidays.  Lets think of the nice Germany (the EU country with all the money and supermodel news anchors) so why don't you read this with Gluhwein?  That's fancy German-talk for mulled wine.  Made with red wine, add cinnamon, anise, clove and sugar and heat (I've seen it done with a crock-pot).  You can also drink it "mit Schuss" which means you add a shot of liquor like rum.