Oreo Book Club – One Summer 1927 by Bill Bryson

We reviewed the book One Summer 1927, written by Bill Bryson. Mary Crowl hosted the meeting where we feasted on the new thin Oreos. All agreed that Bryson tells a good story and 1927 was an interesting year in America. The Lindberg flight, Babe Ruth’s record home runs, the Sacco-Vancetti trial, Ponzi schemes, prohibition and crime were all wrapped up in that period, as well as marches by the KKK, anarchists and hysteria about them, immigration, the lynching of black people and the hold that small minded prejudices had on most people, characterized the era. The stupidity of Calvin Coolidge, the vanity of Herbert Hoover and the evil of Senator Wheeler were covered. The womanizing of Lindberg (with many illegal children) and Babe Ruth (he liked them young, and old and everything in between) were mentioned.
The next meeting will be at the home of Norton Schwartz on the third Wednesday in August and the book to be read and discussed is The Sixth Extinction, by Elizabeth Kolbert.
—Norton Schwartz