Virtual Reading Groups
Would you like to join interesting people and have interesting conversations based on readings from the history of liberty?
Free Participation! | Powered by Zoom
Our Virtual Reading Groups will each focus on a particular topic, and a common set of readings will form the basis for our discussions. Each group is facilitated by a professional moderator and is conducted via the Zoom online platform.
Participation is offered at no-cost, and there is no need to be an expert on the topic for discussion! The only requirement is that participants be eager to read and engage in conversation.
Participants who successfully complete all sessions will receive an e-gift certificate from Amazon.com!
Upcoming
One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare's Plays
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Our new series of Shakespeare Virtual Reading Groups will explore all of Shakespeare’s plays over the course of about 3 years. We’ll look at one play a month, with Liberty Fund’s Sarah Skwire leading one 90 minute discussion for…
One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare Plays: The Taming of the Shrew
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Pre-registration is required.
12:00-1:30 pm EST
with Sarah Skwire
The Taming of the Shrew and its story of an overbearing husband taming a shrewish wife may not have aged particularly well, but critics have long debated how seriously it is meant to be taken,…
Buchanan's Essays: Positive Economics, Welfare Economics and Political Economy
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Pre-registration is required.
This 1959 essay sees James Buchanan criticise both older, utilitarian approaches to welfare economics and also what were then the newer Paretian and Samuelsonian approaches. In particular, Buchanan challenges what he sees as the…
The Presidents: Jefferson and Understanding the Declaration of Independence
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Pre-registration is required.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that in drafting the Declaration of Independence he meant to give expression to “the American mind.” What does this mean? What does the Declaration tell us about the American mind as it relates to the…
Liberty and Responsibility in the African American Religious Tradition
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Pre-registration is required.
This Virtual Reading Group traces the pursuit of liberty in African American religious thought from slavery, through emancipation and Reconstruction, to the mid century civil rights movement. This VRG aims to give an overview of…
One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare Plays: The Winter's Tale
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Pre-registration is required.
4:00-5:30 pm EST
with Sarah Skwire
Like Much Ado About Nothing and Othello, the plot of The Winter’s Tale turns on false accusations against a faithful woman. Why return so often to the question of fidelity and broken trust? Why…
If you don’t Martineau, you ought to Martineau: Harriet Martineau’s Illustrations of Political Economy on Human Liberty, Wealth, and 18th century Markets and Trade
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Pre-registration is required.
Harriet Martineau’s Illustrations of Political Economy is a 9-volume series that uses short, easily understandable stories to explain economic concepts concerning equality, wealth, labor, trade, and more. Martineau’s works,…
A Timeless Reading Group: Plato's Apology
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Pre-registration is required.
One of the most famous figures in Western philosophy, Socrates captures our attention for many reasons, not least because of his trial and death. What do we know about Socrates and how do we know it? In this group, we’ll read…
G. K. Chesterton and Distributism
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Pre-registration is required.
“Our society is so abnormal that the normal man never dreams of having the normal occupation of looking after his own property. When he chooses a trade, he chooses one of the ten thousand trades that involve looking after other…
Ancient Roman Heroes of the Founders
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Pre-registration is required.
This Virtual Reading Group examines the importance of fame for the American Founders and explores how Cincinnatus, Cato, and Cicero served as role models for them. Readings primarily come from ancient Roman sources and the…
Folly and Freedom: The Mississippi Bubble of 1720 in Art and Letters
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Pre-registration is required.
Debt crises and stock market bubbles and crashes are not a 20th century phenomenon. In the 18th century, Scotsman John Law helped France overhaul her financial system. Then the burgeoning French stock market crashed in 1720,…
Liberty in Tolstoy's Master and Man
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Pre-registration is required.
Love, selflessness, sacrifice and the reevaluation of what truly matters in life. Welcome to our discussion of Leo Tolstoy’s timeless short story, Master and Man.
The cold month of February is an ideal time to discuss this…
One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare Plays: Othello
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Pre-registration is required.
Shakespeare’s Othello has always been an interesting play, but its considerations of race, rank, and romance may have become more interesting as our cultural contexts have changed around it. How do we read Othello’s…
Past Sessions
A Timeless Reading Group: Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol - Society, Responsibility, and Happiness
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with Renee Wilmeth
December 2-8, 2024
What defines charity and human kindness in today’s busy world? How does a love of money complicate the issue? For this Timeless reading group discussion, we explore Charles Dickens’ famous…
A Timeless Reading Group: The Constitution and the First Amendment: The Debate on Free Speech
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with Brandon Paradise
November 21-26, 2024
The First Amendment right to freedom of expression is one of our nation’s most cherished and celebrated ideals, yet it is also one of the most contested. Since the nation’s founding, the…
One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare Plays: As You Like It
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2:00-3:30 pm EST
with Sarah Skwire
The physical action of As You LIke It, where Rosalind and Celia are exiled from their home into the forest mirrors the psychological action, as characters find their way through confusion and…
Dive Deep into Hayek's "The Use of Knowledge in Society"
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Join us for a 90-minute virtual discussion about F.A. Hayek’s thoughts on decentralized decision-making versus centralized expert control. It promises to be a lively event. Join us as we explore the Hayekian perspective on the…
Living in a World of “True Believers”. Why Eric Hoffer Still Matters
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12:00-1:00 pm EST
with Alberto Mingardi
Eric Hoffer is perhaps the most unlikely protagonist of the 20th century political philosophy. Completely self-taught, Hoffer worked as a longshoreman in San Francisco, after being rebuffed…
The Constitution and the First Amendment: The Debate on Free Speech
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Thursday, October 31, 2024, 12:00-1:30 pm EDT
with Brandon Paradise
The First Amendment right to freedom of expression is one of our nation’s most cherished and celebrated ideals, yet it is also one of the most contested. Since…
One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare Plays: Titus Andronicus
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12:00-1:30 pm EDT
with Sarah Skwire
Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus is famously the bloodiest and most violent of Shakespeare’s often bloody and violent tragedies. Its horrors reflect the collapse and decay of the Roman empire and…
On Cruelty Well-Used: Machiavelli and Realism
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Wednesdays October 30, November 6, 13, and 20, 2024, 4:00-5:00 pm EDT
with Dan Kapust
Realism has emerged as an important field of inquiry within political theory and philosophy in recent years. While much political and ethical…