Passively interesting for the behind-the-scenes view of Nazi Germany, but pretty boring, overall. What kept me in the book was curiosity as to how the people and events therein eventually lead to war, but much of the day to day is benign. I suppose that can't be helped, as Ambassador Dodd was not a lively figure, and his daughter, Martha (the other focal point of the book), was determinedly naive, silly, and unlikable.

Oddly enough, even though these two figures lived in Berlin during the inception of the Reich and directly interacted with important figures of the time, they feel removed from the realities of this moment in history. Dodd, though bumbling and ineffectual for the majority of the book, eventually takes strides to stand against the regime and to convince his countrymen of the impending danger; however, the inclusion of Martha (who only stopped being a Nazi sympathizer when it was no longer convenient for her) is like switching from a documentary to a reality TV show every chapter. I really believe her detailed inclusion derailed this book. By unerringly committing to the perspective of the Dodd family, the book is overall uninteresting and vapid inspite of the surrounding circumstances.

One of the most significant takeaways though is that the attitude and rhetoric of the Nazi party against Jewish people seemed to have been alarmingly popular in the United States. People acting complacently about, or even actively participating in, the degrading talk and treatment of an entire people group lead to ambivalence of their persecution until the United States was targeted at Pearl Harbor. We can see parallels between these events and the events of current day Palestine, in which an entire population has been subjected to a concentration-camp-like existence for decades. The genocide against the Palestinian people sparks echoes of what happened in Nazi Germany to the Jews, especially considering the U.S.' refusal to actively oppose these atrocities.