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    In The Garden of Beasts

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    This document provides an overview and analysis of the book "In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson. It discusses the importance of objectivity for teachers and academics versus fiction writers. It describes the book's focus on William Dodd, who was appointed U.S. ambassador to Germany in 1933. Initially favorable of Hitler, Dodd grew suspicious of his intentions over time. The document analyzes the challenges of staying objective when writing about real people and important historical events.

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    In The Garden of Beasts

    Uploaded by

    badma
    527 views4 pages
    This document provides an overview and analysis of the book "In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson. It discusses the importance of objectivity for teachers and academics versus fiction writers. It describes the book's focus on William Dodd, who was appointed U.S. ambassador to Germany in 1933. Initially favorable of Hitler, Dodd grew suspicious of his intentions over time. The document analyzes the challenges of staying objective when writing about real people and important historical events.

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    In the Garden of Beasts

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    This document provides an overview and analysis of the book "In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson. It discusses the importance of objectivity for teachers and academics versus fiction writers. It describes the book's focus on William Dodd, who was appointed U.S. ambassador to Germany in 1933. Initially favorable of Hitler, Dodd grew suspicious of his intentions over time. The document analyzes the challenges of staying objective when writing about real people and important historical events.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    527 views4 pages

    In The Garden of Beasts

    Uploaded by

    badma
    This document provides an overview and analysis of the book "In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson. It discusses the importance of objectivity for teachers and academics versus fiction writers. It describes the book's focus on William Dodd, who was appointed U.S. ambassador to Germany in 1933. Initially favorable of Hitler, Dodd grew suspicious of his intentions over time. The document analyzes the challenges of staying objective when writing about real people and important historical events.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    The passage discusses the importance of objectivity for teachers and academics, as well as the challenges of writing about real people and history without including one's own biases and opinions. It also provides background on William Dodd and his role as US ambassador to Germany in the 1930s.

    Prior to becoming ambassador, Dodd had a long career as a history professor at the University of Chicago, where he wrote several books and articles on American history and politics. Some of his most notable works included biographies of Nathaniel Macon and Woodrow Wilson.

    When he was first offered the position of ambassador in 1933, Dodd thought it would give him an opportunity to work on his long-held dream of writing a multi-volume book about the American South. His initial impressions of Germany and Hitler were quite favorable.

    1

    In the Garden of Beasts

    James P. Bavis and Ahn G. Nu

    Department of English, Purdue University

    ENGL 101: Course Name

    Dr. Richard Teeth

    Sep. 20, 2020


    2

    In the Garden of Beasts

    “Objectivity” means that what you are writing is based on facts and real events, not on your own

    feelings or opinion. This may have little to no importance to fiction writers who uses their imagination as

    a basis of their work and convey their feelings to the readers. However, for teachers and academic

    writers’ objectivity is the essence of their work, providing lessons and essays built on concrete evidence

    and facts without bias. Teachers only teach the things that they have already studied, reviewed

    confirmed many times[ CITATION uef \l 1033 ]. Providing the basic formation and letting the students

    interpret and conclude it in their own way.

    Writing a book is no easy task, especially so if you are writing a book based on a real person. It

    is hard to not include your own feelings and decipher their feelings suiting to one’s taste. Ambassador

    Dodd has experienced many tragedies, happiness, as well as many twisting points during the course of

    his life. Throughout his life, he experienced a series of emotions while leaving behind the tales of his life:

    longing, hope, happiness, hesitation, betrayal and realization. However, human emotions are not simple

    enough to be defined by a few words. One cannot fathom the feelings of another person fully just by

    reading records of their history. Filling that unidentified gap with their imaginations and recovering the

    history of another person is ultimately the highest point of writing. That is why many writers shy away

    from writing a book based on history [ CITATION Eri11 \l 1033 ].

    William Dodd was a historian, writer, and a diplomat. In 1908, Dodd started working at the

    University of Chicago as an American History professor and worked there for 25 years. Throughout his

    career he wrote many articles, journals and books based on American history and politics. His most

    notable works are: The Life of Nathaniel Macon (1903), Expansion and Conflict (1915), The Cotton

    Kingdom: A Chronicle of the Old South (1919), and Woodrow Wilson and His Work (1920); (John G. Deal,

    “William Edward Dodd (1869–1940)). Despite all his accomplishments, he was not complacent because
    3

    he had a dream of writing a multi-volume book based on the American South. However, due to his

    duties as a professor and several other responsibilities, he was unable to work on his goals.

    When he was offered an ambassador position in 1933, he thought it was a great opportunity for

    him to work on his dream and immediately accepted it. His first impression of Germany and Hitler was

    incredibly favorable. But, as time passed by, he started to feel suspicious of Hitler and gradually realized

    his true intentions. That led him to dilemma of having to choose between his safety or integrity and

    objectivity as a human being. Every student of history must have an understanding of the importance of

    history and how horrible of a crime is to write an untrue report on the publications that will be passed

    down to the next generation, William Dodd was no exception.

    The hardest part to stay objective during my reading was when Dodd discovered the true motive

    of Hitler and Nazi. He could write about this and express his opinions to the public, but he could never

    influence their decisions and outcomes. During those times the idea of abandoning one’s belief and

    living comfortably truly feels like a decent decision.

    Nevertheless, all human makes mistakes and we can never go back to the past and change it.

    However, what we can do is learning from our mistakes and move forward.

    References
    4

    Larson, E. (2011). In the Garden of Beasts. In E. Larson, In the Garden of Beasts (p. 448).

    uefap. (n.d.). http://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/objectiv.htm. Retrieved from

    http://www.uefap.com/: http://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/objectiv.htm

    John G. Deal,"William Edward Dodd (1869–1940)," Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Library of Virginia

    (1998– ), published 2016 (http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.asp?b=Dodd_William_Edward,

    accessed [9/18/20]).

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