UPDATE: OhMyHannah! I finally finished this flipping book. I really appreciated the information and content. As a 30 year old I can look back at the story of the Nazis and say, "What the?!! How could a whole international community even ALLOW this dynasty to begin?" This book will answer that question. The story is of William Dodd, a mild-mannered college professor who is appointed ambassador to Germany after basically everyone else refuses the job. He brings his wife, his college age son, and his promiscuous married daughter. We see the journey as they show up a little pro-Nazi and how slowly they descend into the literal center of terror. I had no idea at the time the US was isolationist and a bit anti-semitic. Anyhow - I now understand how the whole world just kind of let Hitler happen, until it was too late.
Information and content: 5 stars
Compelling-ness: 3 stars

Amid he chaos of my life (packing, cleaning, and listing a home - renting said home, moving, accepting a job offer, moving again across the country, etc.) this was not a quick read. Possibly in a more stable reading environment I would have been able to knock it out - but just over three months is the best I could do. Sorry Mr. Larson!

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So I read Larson's The Devil in the White City for bookclub last year and the serial murderer part terrified me. His new release is also nonfic, about the US ambassador to Germany during the rise of the Third Reich and explains why we didn't jump in and stop Hitler sooner.

This is a firstreads win and I'm so pumped I won it. I love GoodReads!