About us
We are a serious but fun group of bibliophiles and read everything from current events and public policy to history, science, and literature and the occasional play, graphic novel, or collection of poems.
Our membership includes individuals of all ages and from a variety of careers and cultural backgrounds. Everyone is welcome to join and we do not promote a particular political or social position and welcome all points of view.
We've got two rules: please read the book before attending a meeting. And please don't RSVP to attend and then no-show.
We do not accept requests from authors to read their books. We will never ask for money beyond the $3 event fee. If you receive offers purporting to come from the club they are part of an online scam.
Upcoming events
3
- $3.00
B&B Meeting: The Imjin War -- Samuel Hawley
2500 Q St NW, Washington, DC, USEveryone, please join us on Monday, July 13 at 7 p.m. to discuss The Imjin War: Japan's Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China by Samuel Hawley. | 586pp.
The Imjin War is the most comprehensive account ever published in English of this cataclysmic event, so little known in the West. It begins with the political and cultural background of Korea, Japan and China, explores the diplomatic impasse that led to the war, describes every major incident and battle from 1592 to 1598 and introduces a fascinating cast of characters along the way. There is Hideyoshi, hosting garden parties as his armies march toward Beijing; Korean admiral Yi Sun-sin, emerging from a prison cell to take on the Japanese navy with just thirteen ships; Chinese commander Zhao Chengxun, suffering defeat after promising to “scatter the Japanese to the four winds”; the courtesan Chu Non-gae, luring a samurai into her arms and then jumping into the Nam River with him locked in her embrace.
A long list of other books we are considering reading is available here.
Our meetings have a $3 fee, purely to offset the cost of Meetup. This can be paid via Venmo, Paypal, or in cash.
We do not accept requests from authors to read their books. We will never ask for money beyond the above fee. If you receive offers purporting to come from the club they are part of an online scam.
5 attendees - $3.00
B&B Meeting: The Horse, the Wheel, and Language -- David Anthony
2500 Q St NW, Washington, DC, USEveryone, please join us on Monday, August 10 at 7 p.m. to discuss The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World by David W. Anthony. | 465pp.
Roughly half the world's population speaks languages derived Proto-Indo-European. But who were the early speakers of this ancient mother tongue, and how did they manage to spread it around the globe? The Horse, the Wheel, and Language reveals how the domestication of horses and use of the wheel spread language and transformed civilization.
Linking prehistoric archaeological remains with the development of language, David Anthony identifies the prehistoric peoples of central Eurasia's steppe grasslands as the original speakers of Proto-Indo-European, and shows how their innovative use of the ox wagon, horseback riding, and the warrior's chariot turned the Eurasian steppes into a thriving transcontinental corridor of communication, commerce, and cultural exchange.A long list of other books we are considering reading is available here.
Our meetings have a $3 fee, purely to offset the cost of Meetup. This can be paid via Venmo, Paypal, or in cash.
We do not accept requests from authors to read their books. We will never ask for money beyond the above fee. If you receive offers purporting to come from the club they are part of an online scam.
1 attendee - $3.00
B&B Meeting: The Anarchy: The East India Company -- William Dalyrmple
2500 Q St NW, Washington, DC, USEveryone, please join us on Monday, September 14 at 7 p.m. to discuss The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire by William Dalyrmple. | 427pp.
In August 1765, the East India Company defeated the young Mughal emperor and set up, in his place, a government run by English traders who collected taxes through means of a private army.
The creation of this new government marked the moment that the East India Company ceased to be a conventional company and became something much more unusual: an international corporation transformed into an aggressive colonial power. Over the course of the next 47 years, the company's reach grew until almost all of India south of Delhi was effectively ruled from a boardroom in the city of London.
The Anarchy tells one of history's most remarkable stories: how the Mughal Empire-which dominated world trade and manufacturing and possessed almost unlimited resources-fell apart and was replaced by a multinational corporation based thousands of miles overseas, and answerable to shareholders, most of whom had never even seen India and no idea about the country whose wealth was providing their dividends. Using previously untapped sources, Dalrymple tells the story of the East India Company as it has never been told before and provides a portrait of the devastating results from the abuse of corporate power.
A long list of other books we are considering reading is available here.
Our meetings have a $3 fee, purely to offset the cost of Meetup. This can be paid via Venmo, Paypal, or in cash.
We do not accept requests from authors to read their books. We will never ask for money beyond the above fee. If you receive offers purporting to come from the club they are part of an online scam.
3 attendees
Past events
150
