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"In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin" by Erik Larson

2/26/2014

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Title: In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
Author: Erik Larson
Genre: Historical Nonfiction
# pages: 464
Date published: 2011
5-star rating: 5 stars
Would you recommend it: Yes



I chose In the Garden of Beasts because I loved Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City. Although I normally shy away from non-fiction, Larson’s writing captures my attention by making history come alive, using the style of fiction to tell a historical story.

The book begins with William Dodd’s move to Germany with his family to fulfill his post as the first American Ambassador during Hitler’s rise to power in Germany in 1933.  His original mission is to ensure that Germany pays back its debts to the United States.  As time progresses and Hitler gains more power and support, Dodd strives to maintain the diplomatic relations between the two countries.  Everyone hopes that the Nazi government will grow more moderate and that the persecution of the Jews will stop, but for Dodd and his family, it remains unclear what will happen. 

This book provides a unique perspective of Nazi Germany from an American family, relying mainly of William Dodd and his daughter, Martha, who have more freedom than most foreigners do at this perilous time.  The direct quotes from their diaries give the reader a rare look into the calm before the storm of World War II. Both father and daughter meet the notorious future dictator, the father giving a political view of Hitler while his daughter provides a different perspective, as a woman propositioned to be the future tyrant’s girlfriend. Over the course of the book, Martha has relationships with many men, including the head of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels, and Soviet attaché and secret agent Boris Vinogradov.  In the beginning, she supports the Nazis, but as the number of attacks against Jews and other foreigners mounts, her opinion shifts.  At twenty-four years old at their arrival in Germany, Martha is not much older than most BC students, which makes her a relatable source in spite of her unique situation.

The short chapters and quick progression from one event to the other kept the action moving, even though most of In the Garden of Beasts takes place before the major events of World War II.  Personally, I have always been interested in the events in Germany during this era, and in particular how one man came to hold such power and instill fear in the hearts of his country’s citizens. This book offers insight into this build-up, in a way that keeps the reader flipping pages. I would definitely recommend In the Garden of Beasts to anyone who has any interest in World War II or Nazi Germany.



Review by Liz Handler, A&S '15

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"Heirs of General Practice" by John McPhee

2/17/2014

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Title: Heirs of General Practice
Author: John McPhee
Genre: Nonfiction
# pages: 120
Date published: 1986
5-star rating: 4 stars
Would you recommend it: Yes





Originally published in the New Yorker in 1986, Heirs of General Practice is certainly an artful piece. I found a copy of Heirs lying around my house during winter break, so I took it to read on my flight home – and I finished it before second semester began. The book did not take long to read; it was amusing and informative. Heirs is based on a compilation of John McPhee’s interviews with a dozen or so primary care physicians. McPhee transformed the interviews into a narrative form that goes in depth with each doctor, allowing the reader to get to know them not only as doctors, but also as people.

McPhee explores how each doctor got into medicine, what their practice is like, and other general issues and encounters of rural family practice. All of the doctors come from various backgrounds. Some are from the city, some from the country; some wanted to do medicine all their lives and some decided to be a doctor after years of a separate career (one doctor even quit medical school before returning to do family practice).

Although this book was written in the 1970’s, the ideas are still very relevant because of the high demand for the less glamorous job of a primary physician and the new healthcare reform. The book explains how general practice fell from popularity, when medical specialties and subspecialties began to popularize and explains what medical schools did to combat this demand for doctors.

The book teaches the value and appeal of rural primary care doctors, as well as what it is like to be one. McPhee discusses the most difficult parts about being a family doctor and the most rewarding parts. The storyline basically takes place in doctors’ offices, documenting dialogues from patient visits and exploring the backgrounds of each doctor in between the visits. Physicians also discuss medical school, residency, and other issues with primary care, such as vaccinations and expensive testing methods and imaging.

This book would be especially valuable and interesting for people who are interested in medicine and healthcare systems like I am; however, the story was also very readable even if you just wanted to know more about what it is like to be a doctor or how healthcare system works in rural areas in the seventies. One critique I have is that the book consisted of only sketches of doctors in rural Maine, which might not accurately represent all rural areas of the United States. If the author had interviewed a wider population of family physicians, it would be more applicable to a wider population of people, but it was overall an informative, quick and interesting read!



Review by Colleen Brady, A&S '16

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"Francona: The Red Sox Years" by  Terry Francona & Dan Shaughnessy 

11/18/2013

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Title: Francona: The Red Sox Years
Author:  Terry Francona & Dan Shaughnessy
# pages:  368
Date published: 2013
Rating:  4 out of 5 stars 
Would you recommend it? Yes

Because of my family’s background with the Boston Red Sox (read: obsessed), I couldn’t have been more excited to read Francona: The Red Sox Years, which details the career of Terry “Tito” Francona as manager of the Boston Red Sox. The highlights of Francona’s career include the World Series that broke the Curse of the Bambino in 2004, followed by another win in 2007. 

When I first started reading, I worried that his would be a stereotypical memoir—a little mundane and a little too long.  Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a perfect glimpse into the life of Manager Francona, written with enough personal touch to feel like I was sitting in a room hearing his stories firsthand.  Tito is hilarious—he tells it like it is, and he really cares about his players.  With a perfect balance of insight into the inner workings of the franchise alongside contributions from players, managers, and others, this memoir proved easy to read, and it helped me understand the ups and downs of Red Sox fandom.  Francona comes across as witty, grounded, and talented, and Dan Shaughnessy, his co-author, demonstrates a gift for highlighting these qualities while moving the story forward at a reasonable pace.

I highly recommend Francona: The Red Sox Years to any Red Sox fan, baseball fan, or anyone trying to better understand the culture of Boston—the Sox are undoubtedly a large part of the city.  Getting a look into the real Red Sox, not just their games on TV, made me love them more despite their faults and their quirky (and sometimes difficult) personalities.  The memoir is great look into what it takes to be a good manager and the debate between winning games and making money, and I learned that baseball is as much about the people who make it possible as it is about pitching and hitting a baseball. Ultimately, I finished both informed and entertained.



Review by Molly Saint, A&S '15


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"Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell 

4/27/2013

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Title: Outliers: The Story of Success
Author: Malcolm Gladwell 
Genre:     
Pages: 336
Date published: 2011
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Recommended: Yes!


                This book, as its title suggests, is all about outliers; in this case, the author is referring to the people in society that stand out because of some remarkable accomplishment or quality that sets them apart. You probably already know some of Malcolm Gladwell’s subjects, such as Bill Gates and The Beatles, but he also brings some lesser-known “outliers” to the reader’s attention who have equally impressive stories.

                 Although I originally had to read this book for my Organizational Behavior class here at BC, my entire class loved it, and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about understanding how we can come to achieve success, and how we have gotten to where we are today.

            After reading the novel, my professor asked us all to ask ourselves who has helped us reach the success we have achieved so far in our lives. Once we had written down who those people were, he suggested that we all write them a letter to thank them, to show our appreciation for their important roles in our lives.

            In the end, that is the take-away from Gladwell’s novel: we must all recognize that people do not rise to success purely by their own efforts and actions. While individual motivation and skill play a large role in outstanding success stories, Gladwell points out time and time again that the most significant factor in success stories is the external environment, circumstances, and support that a person receives along the way.



Review by Kristie Dickinson, CSOM '14


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