Imagine being an American diplomat in Germany just as Hitler was coming to power. This unique perspective is granted the reader by Larson’s well-researched and infectiously readable book. Dodd was an unassuming and, in many ways, ill-suited and unlikely diplomat. He loved the Germany of his youth where he had studied, but Germany under Hitler was a whole different animal. Unlikely diplomat though he may have been, Dodd saw Hitler and the Nazi’s for what they were and tried in vain to convey his concerns to the US State Department and President Roosevelt. This book reads like a novel, but it is all the more striking because it is true. The players are very real, as is the terror and the tragedy. I wasn’t always riveted, but I was definitely engaged. The Dodd family and their friends and lovers were complex and the reader becomes invested in their lives. As the true horror of Hitler’s Germany dawns on them, the reader feels the tension and fear while sharing their sense of disbelief. A truly fascinating read!