The Really Serious Oreo Cookie Book Club met August 15 at the home of Dick Johns, fourteen members strong to discuss Catherine the Great who, legend has it (not in the book) died servicing a stallion. Her other lovers were detailed in the book and reviewed by the group. It was so hot we had to open the doors and the windows. Even with that, some felt dizzy and faint. Upon recovery, we reviewed her relationship with Voltaire and the Enlightenment, her foreign policy and wars and her character evolving from a Germanic teenager to an accomplished leader of a major international power that stood on the edge of a medieval social structure that could not quite cross the chasm to Western-style egalitarianism. The soul of 18th century Russia still resides in Premier Putin today.
The next meeting will be at the home of John Hall on September 19 where our group will discuss the book End this Depression Now! written by Paul Krugman.
—Norton Schwartz
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