Dragon's Teeth

DRAGON'S TEETH
by Upton Sinclair

 Award: Pulitzer Winner 1943

 Date Read: February 8, 2019

 Lanny Budd is a wealthy, well-travelled man with a wife, Irma, a wealthy heiress, and a newly born daughter. Lanny and Irma travel extensively through Europe prior to WWII, their daughter being raised in France by a nanny. Lanny's brother-in-law, Hansi, is a famous violinist and Lanny and Irma become close with Hansi's family.

 As Hitler rises to power and the Jews are put under increasing pressure, Hansi's family is swept up by the Nazis and put in concentration camps. Lanny negotiates Johannes's release (Hansi's father) only by pledging his entire wealth to the Nazis. The remainder of the novel is consumed by Lanny attempting to negotiate the release of the last member of Hansi's family. 

 Dragon's Teeth is an excellent inside look at the rise of Hitler and Germany succumbing to Nazi fervor. Lanny engaged in a chess match with the Nazi elite to negotiate his friend's release, which shows the corruption and prejudice of those in power. 

 I learned long ago that nothing builds a nationalist movement like genocide. True in Germany and Rwanda and, as Hispanics become more and more demonized in the US, I fear we still haven't learned that lesson. In light of today's political climate, I am reminded that those who don't learn from the past are bound to repeat it.

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