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
One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare's Plays - A Midsummer Night's Dream
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a perfect play to use for a VRG at the beginning of summer. The woods where the events of the play take place are filled with endlessly fickle pairs of human lovers, a set of amateur actors trying to…
The Challenges of Democracy in a Diverse Society
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One of the most dearly cherished assumptions in American life is the promise of democracy. We believe in multi-racial democracy–and aspire to be one. Other parts of the world, however, have had a very difficult time building a…
One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare's Plays - Coriolanus
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Coriolanus is a famously thorny play. How do you manage a drama about a main character who insists on his right to refuse to engage in the kind of dramatic performance necessary to succeed in Roman politics…and on the Elizabethan…
One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare's Plays - Romeo and Juliet
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We’ll begin the series with Romeo and Juliet, one of the most frequently read of Shakespeare’s plays. A perennial assignment for high school students, the play has also been filmed in endless iterations, from the 1970s Zefferelli…
Understanding Reconstruction - the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments
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The era of Reconstruction is among the most consequential—but also misunderstood—periods of all American history. Using exclusively primary source documents, this seminar introduces participants to the purpose, implications, and…
Foundations of Modern Environmentalism
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Environmental activism, despite its omnipresent placement in our news feeds, is really nothing new. Thinkers back to (at least) John Locke and John Stuart Mill have expressed concern for the natural environment.
Join us for three…
Bruno Leoni: Freedom and the Law
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After WWII, classical liberal thinkers attempted to develop a new version of classical liberalism, more attuned with the needs and issues emerged through the century. Virtually all of them played a special attention to the law.…
Oakeshott's Moral Vision
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Michael Oakeshott offers his readers a striking description of what it means to be conservative—in politics and in moral life more generally. His vision is connected to a particular view of liberal education. This VRG will…
