Oreo Cookie Club – Lawrence in Arabia

The meeting was held at the home of Lakshman Sehgal on November 19 where the group discussed the book Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson.  This well-written and informative book read like a spy novel, pitting the intrigues and double-dealing of the British, the French, the Germans, the Americans, the Jews, the Arabs and, not the least of all, Lawrence against one another. Britain did not trust France, Hussain did not trust Saud, Secular Jews did not trust religious Jews, America did not trust anyone and Germany spied on everyone.  Treaties were secret and broken when convenient.  Generals sent soldiers to certain death and the whole Far East theater was a side-show to the main event in Europe. The end of the war was, in the Far East, the last great gasp of the colonial power of France and England.  We will not meet in December. We meet the third Wednesday in January at a site yet to be determined.                    Norton Schwartz