Virtual Reading Groups

Spontaneous (Dis)Order: Enlightenment Thinkers on Anarchist Thought, is designed to explore the intellectual lineage from Enlightenment thought to the development of modern anarchism. Anarchism’s emphasis on decentralization,… more

Soviet writer Isaac Babel said of Tolstoy’s War and Peace, “if the world could write by itself, it would write like Tolstoy.” The novel’s author seems to be especially interested in the contrast between the artificial and the… 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

Two of the great works of contemporary political philosophy – John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice and Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia – have turned 50 in recent years. The aim of these two one-day VRGs is to explore… more

James Baldwin’s masterfully written The Fire Next Time is a timeless exploration of racial injustice. This reading group will discuss this revolutionary book as well as supplemental readings on slavery, civil rights,… more

Join us for a four-week discussion of ancient Greek tragedy. Together, we will read four plays by Euripides, the playwright Aristotle called “the most tragic poet.” We will consider how Euripides reimagines epic mythology and… more

Albert Einstein is often considered one of the greatest geniuses of the modern world for his work in physics. Einstein was also a socialist. He had fled the National Socialist German Workers' Party, and lived in the US during the… more

Explore how intellectual property applies to the modern world of AI. The original article defining “intellectual property” by Lysander Spooner (who also founded his own post office because he thought the USPS was… more

The final book of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall series winds up in a familiar Tudor place: the block. We left Thomas Cromwell at the height of his powers, his enemies annihilated, his revenge for the ignominious death of his mentor… more

What is love? (Baby, don’t hurt me.) Shakespeare’s play is an extended, linguistically pyrotechnical exploration of the nature of love and its pleasure, dangers, and distractions. How does the play suggest we balance love and… more

Today, the role of institutions in facilitating trade worldwide remains as crucial as it was during the medieval period. For example, historical institutions like the Law Merchant and private judges helped revive trade by… more

Considered one of the first modern novels, Les Misérables examines society’s role in criminal behavior, charity, and compassion in the face of misery, poverty, and injustice. Along the way, Hugo shares his trademark social… more

We will read a chapter from Joseph Schumpeter’s 1942 book Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy about how technology brings waves of annihilation and then creation, as well as an article from Nature about how this disruption is… more

Pericles, Prince of Tyre is unique among Shakespeare’s plays, as it imports a famous medieval poet, John Gower, to serve as the narrator and interpreter of the play’s events. Neither a tragedy nor a comedy, but combining elements… more

In her series Illustrations of Political Economy, including the story For Each and For All, Martineau sought to make complex ideas of political economy accessible to general readers by embedding them within narratives featuring… more

Explore the American founders’ lifelong study of Roman history to assess what their study of Roman villains taught them about the need for vigilance and methods of preventing tyranny. Each of the sessions will focus on a… more

They were among the most important advocates for stronger government at the Philadelphia convention and the principal champions for ratification of the Constitution in the debates that ensued. Writing together as Publius, few… more

In the forward to We the Living, Ayn Rand describes her first book as, “not being about Soviet Russia in 1925. It is a story about Dictatorship, any dictatorship, anywhere, at any time…” While it is a story of a young woman… more

One notable mid-20th-century attempt came from American journalist and economic thinker Henry Hazlitt, who explored this method in his novel Time Will Run Back. In this work, Hazlitt combined dystopian fiction with classical… more

Join us as we explore Coriolanus through the lens of the two most famous accounts of his life. First, we will read Plutarch’s Life of Coriolanus, in which Plutarch tells the story of Coriolanus’s rise to greatness and the story… more

We begin with Bentham’s Letters 1, 2, 5, and 6, explaining his belief that power should be visible and unverifiable, which will lead to the betterment of the individual. The Reveley drawing helps to visualize Bentham’s plans. The… more

Can you teach economics through story? British sociologist Harriett Martineau pioneered the use of story to teach political economy in the 19th century. American Journalist Henry Hazlitt attempted the same thing in the mid-20th… more

The definition of republican government from the time of the American Revolution through the first years of the nineteenth century, drew from a diverse well of ideas about law, the nature of “The People” and the substance of… more

The contest for the crown at the center of King John is a bloody and violent one, with a surprising hero in the figure of the illegitimate Richard Plantagenet. George Orwell loved the play, but what will we make of its tangled… more