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

Spontaneous Orders in Antiquity

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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…

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…

Register

Buchanan's Essays: What Should Economists Do?

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Pre-registration is required.

James Buchanan’s goal in his 1964 essay ’What Should Economists Do?’ was to persuade economists to “concentrate their attention on a particular form of human activity, and upon the various institutional arrangements that arise as…

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Liberty and the American Statesman: Roger Sherman

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Pre-registration is required.

This virtual reading group explores the life, ideas, and legacy of Roger Sherman, one of the most influential—yet often overlooked—Founding Fathers of the United States. A key figure in the American founding, Sherman was the…

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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…

Register

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858

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Pre-registration is required.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 were a defining moment in American political history, bringing the issue of slavery’s expansion to the forefront of national debate. As Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas clashed over moral…

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One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare Plays: All's Well That Ends Well

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Pre-registration is required.

All’s Well that Ends Well has defied categorization for centuries. The winning of a reluctant husband by an over-eager bride, and the subsequent bed-trick that secures their continued marriage are morally complicated in ways that…

Register

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…

Register

Franz Kafka's Short Stories

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Pre-registration is required.

Except for “The Metamorphosis,” Franz Kafka’s short stories are often overshadowed by his two major novels, The Trial and The Castle, which tend to dominate discussions of his work. Yet this emphasis can obscure the remarkable…

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Religion and the Founding Fathers

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Pre-registration is required.

This three-session VRG examines the complex and evolving relationship between religion and politics in the American founding era, tracing how theological ideas shaped debates over authority, liberty, and governance. The selected…

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One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare Plays: The Tempest

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Pre-registration is required.

Thought to be one of Shakespeare’s latest plays, The Tempest is haunted by magic and by images of humans at their best and their worst. Many critics read Prospero’s farewell to his books at the play’s end as conveying, in some…

Register

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…

Register

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…

Register

Past Sessions

Education in a Free Society

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Please join us for a one-day-only Virtual Reading Group to discuss Benjamin Rogge and Pierre Goodrich's essay, Education in a Free Society, with Douglas Den Uyl.

Ancient v. Modern Liberty

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Please join us for a one-day-only Virtual Reading Group to discuss Benjamin Constant’s famed essay, The Liberty of Ancients Compared with that of Moderns with Alberto Mingardi.

Mary Wollstonecraft and the Rights of Women

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Please join us in March, 2022 for Mary Wollstonecraft and the Rights of Women, with Janet Bufton.

Joseph Schumpeter's "Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy"

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Please join us in February, 2022 for Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, with Edward Harpham.

James Madison and the Conflict Between the Executive and Legislative Branches

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The struggle between legislative and executive power is as old as the American order.  It is sown into its very nature.  Yet certain principles guide that struggle–with executives not only vindicating “executive…

Pericles' Funeral Oration

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Please join us for a one-day-only Virtual Reading Group to discuss this famous speech recorded by Thucydides with Alberto Mingardi.

Celebrate Constitution Day

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Please join us for a special one-day-only Virtual Reading Group to celebrate Constitution Day, led by Hans Eicholz.

Agriculture, the State, and Liberty

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Pre-registration is required. Participants will need to acquire a copy of James C. Scott's Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States. The complementary readings are available online.