Virtual Reading Groups

Next to Abraham Lincoln, no citizen at the end of the Civil War stood in higher regard among the loyal American public than Ulysses S. Grant. Lincoln’s sudden death in April 1865 opened an enormous cavity that beckoned someone—… more

with Hans Eicholz

This VRG considers two documents which present opposing views of the foundations of the British colonies in North America. Samuel Johnson was commissioned by the government of Prime Minister North to defend… more

with Joy Buchanan

How will humans succeed (or survive) in the Age of AI?

Russ Roberts brought the world’s leading thinkers about artificial intelligence to the EconTalk audience and was early to the trend. He hosted Nick Bostrom… more

with Richard Gunderman

The Book of Genesis, which has as strong a claim as any to be the source text of Western civilization, devotes considerable attention to the themes of freedom and responsibility. For example, in the Garden… more

with Edward Harpham

David Hume wrote extensively on religious and theological matters in his many philosophical, literary, and political essays. He was condemned in his time as an atheist and a deist by church authorities and… more

with Alice Temnick

Families and the Rhythm of Life. The Generational Divide. Conflict and the Ties that Bind Us. Could these also be titles for Turgenev’s 1862 family drama that shook the Russian literary world? Turgenev… more

with Sarah Skwire

Measure for Measure considers questions of law, justice, and the nature of promises and vows. Like The Merchant of Venice it is one of Shakespeare’s legal plays, with a trial scene at the peak of the action. We… more

with Alice Temnick

This is the fourth in our series of Timeless reading groups about Harriet Martineau’s Illustrations of Political Economy. For this discussion, we will read and discuss the novella “French Wines and Politics.”… more

with Tawni Ferrarini

Today, the role of institutions in facilitating trade worldwide remains as crucial as it was during the medieval period. In this article, North and Weingast (1990) explore how historical institutions like… more

with Roberta Herzberg

In this discussion, we will explore some key readings in Elinor and Vincent Ostrom’s early work which formed the foundation for their theories of metropolitan governance and citizen self-governance. We will… more

with Todd Estes

This VRG will discuss seven of the 85 essays on the US Constitution known as the Federalist Papers or sometimes just The Federalist. They were composed by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison,… more

Co-written with John Fletcher, this play comes from “The Knight’s Tale” in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, which took it from a poem by Boccaccio. We will think about literary influence here, of course, but also explore the play’s… more

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… more