2.49k reviews for:

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

Erik Larson

3.77 AVERAGE

krygow's review against another edition

4.0

dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

ttayl's review against another edition

4.0

informative reflective medium-paced

lexa_reads's review against another edition

1.0

informative slow-paced

beklaus's review against another edition

4.0

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I read this to try and get an understanding of how Hitler was able to rise up without the protest of his people or the world. It gave me a good understanding and is a fascinating story.

I haven't read anything else on the topic so I can't say how the book would be for someone with a strong background on the subject.

macreader's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark informative

narzou7's review against another edition

4.0

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4.5 ✨A super interesting book all around. I especially enjoyed the portions about Martha. I could imagine a 2025 version of her going absolutely rogue on TikTok. In all seriousness, it was almost eerie to read this book in the context of 2025 U.S. politics: in many respects, it’s a cautionary tale about people saying everything is “fine” until it’s extremely not. Some of the parts about the internal politics of Hitler’s government dragged on a bit, but overall this was an engaging listen.

valkyrieviv's review against another edition

4.25

informative medium-paced

xinamarie's review against another edition

4.5

dark funny reflective sad medium-paced

jdavid's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

book_grams's review against another edition

2.0

slow-paced