Virtual Reading Groups
Would you like to join interesting people and have interesting conversations based on readings from the history of liberty?
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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 online powered by Zoom.
Our Timeless Reading Groups are asynchronous and open to all in the Portal platform. Liberty Fund solicits a scholar to lead a discussion of a short story and/or essays that each participant will read and discuss. This format doesn’t require participants to use Zoom or “schedule” a specific time to participate.
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.
Upcoming
Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels at 300
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Pre-registration is required.
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is generally considered a satire: a work that exposes foibles and vices with the goal of reform. In The Battle of the Books, Swift observes, “Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do…
Wealth of Nations: A Six-Part Series - Book One
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Pre-registration is required.
Join us for a six-part monthly virtual reading group series that celebrates the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations!
Each month, Sarah Skwire and Janet Bufton (creators…
Liberty and Women's Suffrage
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Pre-registration is required.
This VRG will examine the arguments for and the long struggle for women’s right to vote in the United States. In the aftermath of the successful conclusion, in the form of the 19th Amendment, another constitutional change was…
One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare Plays: Troilus and Cressida
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Pre-registration is required.
Troilus and Cressida sits uneasily somewhere between comedy and tragedy. The tale of young lovers, set against the backdrop of the Trojan War is often driven by satire and humor, but the play’s end is unsettlingly dark. Can we…
Liberty and the American Statesman: Thomas Paine
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Pre-registration is required.
Certainly among the most important persons of the revolutionary era of the late eighteenth-century, Thomas Paine’s role in the shaping of world events from the American to the French revolutions demands close consideration. What…
The Federalist Papers and the Debate on the Constitution
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Pre-registration is required.
The Federalist played a role in the ratification debate of 1787-1788 and its 85 essays have long been seen as providing essential commentary on, and explanation of, the Constitution. Though written by Federalist partisans with…
Spontaneous Orders in Antiquity
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Pre-registration is required.
Spontaneous order is a central feature of classical liberal thought, especially Friedrich Hayek, and is often taken to be a key dimension of both liberal societies and market-based economies. Yet classical political thought…
Wealth of Nations: A Six-Part Series - Book Two
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Pre-registration is required.
Join us for a six-part monthly virtual reading group series that celebrates the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations!
Each month, Sarah Skwire and Janet Bufton (creators…
One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare Plays: Antony and Cleopatra
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Pre-registration is required.
Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is a famously difficult play to stage. Its complicated plot and constant shifting of scenes make the action hard to follow. But the beauties of Shakespeare’s language are still there, and we…
Wealth of Nations: A Six-Part Series - Book Three
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Pre-registration is required.
Join us for a six-part monthly virtual reading group series that celebrates the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations!
Each month, Sarah Skwire and Janet Bufton (creators…
Wealth of Nations: A Six-Part Series - Book Four
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Pre-registration is required.
Join us for a six-part monthly virtual reading group series that celebrates the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations!
Each month, Sarah Skwire and Janet Bufton (creators…
Wealth of Nations: A Six-Part Series - Book Five Part One
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Pre-registration is required.
Join us for a six-part monthly virtual reading group series that celebrates the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations!
Each month, Sarah Skwire and Janet Bufton (creators…
Wealth of Nations: A Six-Part Series - Book Five Part Two
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Pre-registration is required.
Join us for a six-part monthly virtual reading group series that celebrates the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations!
Each month, Sarah Skwire and Janet Bufton (creators…
Past Sessions
Insights on Joy: “Anna Karenina”
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Often considered one of the greatest works in world literature, Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” presents a deep exploration of the true sources of joy in human life. On the novel’s terms, efforts to find joy through the…
One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare Plays: Henry IV, Part I
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Shakespeare’s three plays featuring Prince Hal’s development into the famed king, Henry V, are some of his most popular in the modern era. We’ll look into Hal’s intellectual and moral growth, and try to decide how to feel about…
The Presidents: Jefferson and Understanding the Declaration of Independence
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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…
Stefan Zweig’s Chess novella
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Chess story (Schachnovelle) is Stefan Zweig’s last completed work & his most famous. It has been translated into 60 languages. It has sold many millions of copies. It is taught in schools & in colleges. It has been…
One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare's Plays - Richard II
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Richard II begins Shakespeare’s second tetralogy, which comprises his most famous English history plays. We will consider the play not just as a way of teeing up the Henriad, but on it’s own merits and for its own mission. What…
One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare's Plays - Cymbeline
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Cymbeline has been classified as a tragedy, a romance, and even a comedy, so our first order of business will be to try to understand what kind of a play this is. Lytton Strachey thought the play was evidence that playwriting had…
An Economy of Words: Adam Smith and the Political Philosophy of Language
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Linguistic diversity, from the Tower of Babel to the present, has drawn many thinkers to speculate over language and its potential impact on political theory and approach to economic principles. Smith is no exception. Adam Smith’…
Buchanan's Moral Science and Moral Order
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James Buchanan was a foundational scholar in our modern understanding of public choice, bringing the logic of economics to the study of political institutions. Interspersed throughout his voluminous writings on political economy,…
