“I’m about to finish ‘In the Garden of Beasts,’ a nonfiction book set in 1933 Germany. William E. Dodd, a college professor, became FDR’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Nazi Germany, at a time that was a turning point in history. German President Hindenburg had just appointed Hitler Chancellor in early 1933, and Hitler was consolidating power and implementing new rules that were purportedly intended to ‘Make Germany Great Again’ and also to protect the German people from the Jews and other non-Aryans (think immigrants).

“In reality, Hitler was creating an environment that was all about him (think Trump), raising himself to the level of a god, worshipped by millions and totally unchallenged. First-person accounts of Hitler, Göring, Goebbels and others show them not only to be of limited intelligence, but also mentally unhinged.

“The Gestapo, Brown Shirts, Storm Troopers, Jewish persecution and other chilling elements of Nazi Germany are brought to life. Jews are attacked, the press is censored and people are arrested and disappeared or murdered with no repercussions … because it’s just part of Making Germany Great Again.

“What really has kept me glued to the book are the scary and disconcerting similarities between Hitler and his gang, and Trump and his. ‘In the Garden of Beasts’ offers an eyewitness perspective on Hitler’s rise and his ability to use the media and ‘marketing’ to fool a great portion of the populace. It speaks volumes about why the world, including the U.S., despite Dodd’s ongoing reports of what was going on, did not recognize the grave threat posed by Hitler until Germany was too far down the path of war, death and evil.” — STEVE MORTIMER, Raymond

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