Tiergarten

In the Garden of Beasts is another excellent book by Erik Larson, who also wrote "The Devil in the White City" and "Thunderstruck," both of which have appeared on our reading list in the past year or so. It's about the U.S. ambassador to Germany, one William E. Dodd, and his very friendly daughter, Martha (and others) living in Hitler's Berlin just prior to WWII, and makes for a rigorously documented very good yarn.

I still think "Devil" is the best of Larson's books, possibly because it was the first of his I read, possibly because it takes place in Chicago, possibly because there's one—"Isaac's Storm"—I haven't read, possibly a little of all three. But if you like the kind of history Larson writes, "Garden" definitely belongs on your list (as it is on ours).

(And lots of good stuff coming up this summer.)