This month we are reading In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson. We’ll be discussing the book in person at Arden Dimick Library, at 10:30AM on August 26, 2017.

The Dodds had fascinating lives in diplomatic circle, but they were also authors. William Dodd was a historian who wanted more time to write. He wrote Expansion and Conflict about how economic regional competition influenced the outbreak of The Civil War. He also wrote biographies of Jefferson Davis, Nathaniel Macon, and Thomas Jefferson, among other papers and books.

Martha Dodd, William’s daughter, wrote novels and memoirs. She wrote a memoir called  My Years in Germany and another one called Through Embassy Eyes. Her novel Sowing the Wind, published in 1945, is about life in Germany under Nazi rule. The Searching Light, which was published in 1955, deals with American paranioa and persecution of those suspected to be Communists.

After the war, Martha Dodd became a spy for the Soviets. Be sure to check out her wikipedia.org entry for the details!