Post date: Nov 16, 2015 4:30:45 AM
Having just finished two other books about WWII (All the Light We Cannot See and The Book Thief), Betsey could not face another book about that era, so had not read our November selection, but graciously hosted our discussion of Erik Larson's book chronicling the experiences of the American Ambassador William E. Dodd and his daughter Martha as Hitler rose to power. We were also pleased to welcome a new face, Ida Abbott, to our group of long time book club members.
Larson did a remarkable job of researching and pulling together the threads of larger historical and personal interactions. As one of us remarked, you know how it is going to turn out, but you keep turning the pages hoping that something will be different: the faction opposed to Hitler will succeed in ousting him, or the Americans will realize what a monster is he is, stop worrying about recovering their debt and figure out a way to stop him before it is too late.