Nonfiction Book Group

The Nonfiction Book Discussion Group meets on the second Thursday of each month from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the Conference Room.  All are welcome.  Please contact Bruce Buzby if you have any questions

The discussion-meetings schedule for March, April, May and June follows (on the second Thursday of the month):

March 13, 2008 - Topic: Iraq and how it came to be; Facilitator – To be determined.  Source: “A Shattered Peace: Versailles 1919 and the Price we Pay” by D. Andelman, 2007, 336 pages, $17.13.  “The peace settlements that followed World War I have recently come back into focus as one of the dominant factors shaping the modern world. The Balkans, the Middle East, Iraq, Turkey and parts of Africa all owe their present-day problems, in part, to these negotiations. David Andelman brings it all back to life – the lofty ideals, the ugly compromises, the larger-than-life personalities who came to Paris in 1919. And he links that far-away diplomatic dance to present-day problems that illuminate our troubled times. A tremendous addition to this vitally important subject."—Ambassador Richard Holbrooke.
     
April 10, 2008 - Topic: Can we forecasting the Future? Facilitator – To be determined.  Source: “Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes” by Mark J. Penn, 2007, 448 pages, $17.15.  Relying on some of the best data available, Penn identifies more than 70 microtrends in religion, leisure, politics, and family life that are changing the way we live. Among them: People are retiring but continuing to work.

May 8, 2008 - Topic: How Geography influences History; Facilitator – To be determined.  Source: “The Discovery of France:  A Historical Geography From the Revolution to the First World War” by Graham Robb, 2007, 400 pages, $18.45.  The notion of ‘the French’ as one nation is relatively recent and – historically speaking – quite misleading; in order to discover the ‘real’ past of France it’s not only necessary to go back in time, but also to go at a slower pace than modern life generally allows, this book is the result of 14,000 miles covered by bicycle.

June 12, 2008 - Topic: What should we be looking for in our next President? Facilitator – To be determined.  Source: “Command of Office: How War, Secrecy, and Deception Transformed the Presidency, from Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Bush” by Steven Graubard, 2006, 722 pages, $13.55.  With access to former members of both Republican and Democratic administrations, Graubard has written a masterful history of presidential power – one that anyone concerned with American politics will need to read.