In The Garden Of Beast Summary

In the Garden of Beasts is an important historical book with lots of good information, but can be difficult to understand while reading. In the video Erik Larson, the author, helped answer many of my questions. One of these important questions was how he came up with the idea to write his book about this topic. Another important topic covered was Hitler’s rise to power, and the means he used to keep control of Germany. Larson also discussed how Dodd had connections that made him a candidate for the job of ambassador and the process that happened for him to get his job in Berlin. This video gives a great insight to what the author meant to convey through the book that may not have been easy to pick up on while reading this book.

Published in 2014 by Bloomsbury in London, Ask The Beasts: Darwin and the God of love , is a book written by Elizabeth Johnson who turns her attention as to what she likes to call “the second big bang” which is evolution. Exploring the Christian tradition, she seeks to find an understanding of the religious meaning of the ecological world of species. Illustrating passages from Charles Darwin and his book “The Origin of species” and the Christian Story of the God of mercy and love in association with the Nicene Creed, she begins to talk about the relationship between the evolving world and God. In Chapters 2-4, Johnson focuses on the evolution of species and on Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection. Next, Chapters 5-8 bring the Christian stories

In “The Beast of Waste and Desolation” in Barry Holstun Lopez’s book Of Wolves and Men, he writes about the attitudes he encountered from people when discussing wolves. These attitudes came from several different sources, ranging from several different Native American tribes and field biologists to ranchers, trappers, and general residents of the areas where he conducted his research. Lopez expressed his discomfort when he spoke with the latter group, as those people that felt there was nothing wrong with killing wolves, and that the practice, overall, was a good thing. Lopez writes that it seemed many of these people appeared to be filled with a general hatred; of government, laws, and wolves. The killing of wolves held a vengeful element, with no remorse or regret. He goes into detail of the single-minded persecution of the wolf, even though many of the conflicts with wolves were man made. One example provided was of man depleting many of the wolves’ natural prey sources like elk and buffalo, and as a result the wolves turned to preying on the domestic stock instead. Suddenly, man was justified in killing wolves as it became necessary to protect livestock. The larger questions

“Fifty-four years ago to the day, a young Jewish boy from a small town in the Carpathian Mountains woke up, not far from Goethe's beloved Weimar, in a place of eternal infamy called Buchenwald. He was finally free, but there was no joy in his heart. He thought there never would be again.”

Nazi troops marched through the countryside of Germany, breaking into Jewish communities and businesses, capturing and killing hundreds of thousands of innocent Jews, all because the current leader of Germany at the time, Adolf Hitler, wanted the Jews working for him or dead. These acts of violence are the stage for the book Night, where a boy recounts his life of imprisonment and death-defying acts of courage, and Hitler Youth, a factual account of the horrors of 1930’s Germany. During these difficult times, Hitler and all of his followers used the punishments put on them after World War Two as an excuse to disobey the laws set on them and began to raise and incredibly powerful military made up of men and women, young and old, and did whatever

The one documentary film that really stuck out to me was the first film of the semester, Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere. Author Poe Ballantine, or locally known as Ed Hughes, documents the mystery behind the newly hired math professor, Steven Haataja disappearance. One of the main controversies behind this case is that Haataja’s cause of death, to this day, is still unknown. This mystery splits the town in half, the ones who believe it was a suicide and those who believe it was a murder. There is evidence that can point to either cause, such as, his some of his last whereabouts was buying coals and peppermint schnapps but on the other side, how did he tie himself up to the tree?

“The Meaning Of Hitler,” by Sebastian Haffner, translated by Ewald Osers, is an excellent read for those that wish to jump inside the mind of the military and orator genius, Adolf Hitler. The negative stigma surrounding Hitler is very well accounted for; he killed of millions from the relatively defenseless, Jewish population. However, this book breaks down Hitler’s life from his childhood to his eventual suicide at the end of World War II, and looks at the side of Hitler that made him stand out from the rest, explaining Adolf without the stigma attached. While doing this, he also realizes that Hitler was a normal human being, so he includes his mistakes and crimes alongside. The book is split into seven different sections, explaining the wonders

The books Maus I and Maus II, written by Art Spiegelman over a thirteen-year period from 1978-1991, are books that on the surface are written about the Holocaust. The books specifically relate to the author’s father’s experiences pre and post-war as well as his experiences in Auschwitz. The book also explores the author’s very complex relationship between himself and his father, and how the Holocaust further complicates this relationship. On a deeper level the book also dances around the idea of victims, perpetrators, and bystanders. The two books are presented in a very interesting way; they are shown in comic form, which provides the ability for Spiegelman to incorporate numerous ideas and complexities to his work.

The painting “Threesome”, by Felix Nussbaum, conveys the pain caused by the separation of families during the Holocaust, as does the book “Night”, by Elie Wiesel. “Night” reveals how as soon as people arrived at the concentration camps, they were split up. “Men to the left! Women to the right!” an SS man commanded upon Elie’s family’s arrival at the camp (29).

Prisoner of Night and Fog, the riveting story of Hitler’s inner circle by Anne Blankman, takes you on a journey through 1930’s Munich Germany from Hitler’s inner circle to the political occupation of Germany. Seventeen year old Gretchen Müller lives within the Hitlers own family. Gretchen lives with her mother and her brother Reinhard Müller. Her father was killed during the 1923 “Beer Hall Putsch”.

Fear is deeply embedded in the human genome as a defense mechanism. It is so old it is coded into the oldest part of the human nervous system. Throughout history, fear has been used to manipulate whole populations into starting wars and revolts, and perpetrating genocide and discrimination. Never has that been more true than in Adolf Hitler’s Germany, and his rise led to the deadliest conflict in human history, World War II. His consolidation of power and control over the people of Germany can be attributed to using fear as a weapon of manipulation. In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson, follows the first American ambassador into this dystopia, and the fear he experiences while there. Erik Larson chose to set In The Garden of Beasts in

The evolution of style in these book differ, but not as much as one would think. The Secret Garden is definitely more formal and has terms that would be said in the 1910s. It also seems to consider girls as incapable of doing certain things just because they’re girls. It's certainly not as plot twisting as The Raven King and is a very slow book to read. The Raven King is a very modern book that has interesting things happen and with phrases heard in today’s age for example foul language. There is a strong female role in it and the book does not care for “gender roles”. You see more things that are impossible to happen in The Raven King like magic and talking trees.

Recalling his devoted years to the Hitler Youth program, author Alfons Heck states “I have never once during the Hitler years thought of myself as anything but a decent, honorable young German, blessed with a glorious future” (206). This honesty conveyed by Heck elucidates the selfish ideals of those in the Hitler Youth, a theme apparent in the novel A Child of Hitler. Although Heck’s thoughts are self-conceited, they convey the opinions of those decieved by the Hitler Youth principles. As politically incorrect as these principles were, A Child of Hitler portrays them differently than other literature reporting on the subject. Through his descriptions of daily activities, Heck describes the pressure that children faced as Hitler Youth.

Bunting, Eve, and Stephen Gammell. Terrible Things: an Allegory of the Holocaust. Jewish Publication Society, 1989.

Nazi Germany, the land of death stood as an evidence that how the power of words plays a vital part in becoming a bare witness for the people in suffering. Max Vandenberg’s journey from Stuttgart to Molching is an ideal illustration of how the power of words stood as a bare witness for Max’s suffering. In the journey max postures himself as a non-Jewish person, calmly reading the book ‘’Mein Kampf’’. The words in the book Mein Kampf symbolizes the agony and suffering that Max is going through as he leaves his family back alone. In addition, Max transforms the pages inside Mein Kampf to express his story of suffering against the regime in the form of words.