Minotaur Book Club

ANNOUNCEMENT: The Minotaur Book Club

delves into timeless questions and contemporary challenges, inviting participants to explore the roots of governance, liberty, and democracy through the lens of history and philosophy. The discussions will provide a fertile ground for examining how the principles of justice, equality, and collective responsibility have evolved and where they still fall short.

Register on Meetup! https://www.meetup.com/marylandforwardparty/events/307635705/

Purpose: The purpose of the book club is to counteract our country’s historical amnesia and strengthen our democracy. To that end, we will read and discuss books that help us to understand the American Project, diagnose persisting problems, and suggest ways to fulfill the mission of the Preamble to the Constitution.

"We the People of the United States, to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

The Minotaur is one of the key archetypes representing the threat to social order when government leaders threaten democracy by converting public goods to private purposes. The best defense for a democracy is educated citizens.

“A society ignorant and free, never was, never will be.” – Thomas Jefferson

“We have given you a republic, if you can keep it.” – Benjamin Franklin

Date and Time: The first meeting will be held on Thursday, June 12th, 6:30pm – 8:30pm EST and every second Thursday of the month thereafter.

Format: Cohosts will discuss the book with an expert or author, where possible.The Question and Comments sections will be monitored, and hosts will answer the audience’s questions after the discussion.

First Book: Forgotten Founders: Benjamin Franklin, the Iroquois and the Rationale for the American Revolution by Bruce E. Johansen

Register on Meetup! https://www.meetup.com/marylandforwardparty/events/307635705/

Available by PDF: https://ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/FF.pdf

Available as HTML: https://ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/FF.html

Internet Archive: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL15320250M/Forgotten_founders

Or check your local library

An examination of the Native American continuing influence on the American mind, the European Enlightenment, and the U.N. Charter. Forgotten Founders provides a history of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin's experience with the Iroquois Federation and key tribe members, as well as how knowledge of the tribe's governance, philosophy, and key individuals affected America's Founding Generation. The experience with the Iroquois influenced Jean-Jacques Rousseau and other European philosophers. It shows how the social order of the Federation influenced not only the American Constitution but also the Founding Documents of the United Nations.

Register on Meetup! https://www.meetup.com/marylandforwardparty/events/307635705/

Sponsored in part by the Sociological Imagination Group

Members will vote on subsequent books, including:

• The Federalist Papers, Important Sections

• Thomas Paine, Common Sense

• Thomas Hartmann, The Hidden History of The Supreme Court

• Stacy Schiff, The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams

• Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

END OF ANNOUNCEMENT