Virtual Reading Groups

with Renee Wilmeth

Published in 1831, Notre-Dame de Paris (or, as we know it, The Hunchback of Notre Dame) was a social criticism about progress, education, science, the class system, and the state of the city of Paris.… more

with Tawni Ferrarini

Join us for the March 9-16, 2025 Timeless Reading Group where we’ll take a deep dive into Elinor Ostrom’s work on common pool resource problems, exploring how communities can manage shared resources… more

with Jonathan Jacobs

This Virtual Reading Group will explore some of the fundamental issues concerning the relation between law and morality in a liberal democracy, with a focus on matters concerning criminal justice. Among the… more

with Sarah Skwire

On March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams wrote to husband John, encouraging him to “Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of… more

with Tawni Ferrarini

Join us for a 90-minute virtual discussion about Elinor Ostrom’s work on common pool resource problems, exploring how communities can manage shared resources effectively. Ostrom took on the conventional… more

with Lynne Kiesling

In this reading group we will read two of James Buchanan’s classic essays about public choice: “Politics Without Romance” and “Before Public Choice.” These essays define Buchanan’s concept of public choice and… more

with Sarah Skwire

With “The Mirror and the Light” available for US viewers, it’s a good time to think about Shakespeare’s portrayal of Henry VIII and our continuing cultural obsession with his life and reign. How does Shakespeare… more

with Shannon Chamberlain

This reading group will explore the connection between structure and liberty, will and wisdom: concerns central to Dante throughout his life, much of which was spent in exile for his political and… more

with Garth Bond

While Shakespeare wrote many plays about tyrannical and ineffective monarchs, Henry V is a rare play focused on a successful, effective, and popular ruler—a fact which may account for its long-standing success in… more

This VRG is designed to introduce one of America’s most renowned yet least understood Founders, George Washington. We begin with “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior,” which began as an exercise in penmanship when Washington… more

At the heart of Buchanan’s work is a deep inquiry into fundamental questions of liberty and order in society. In this respect, Buchanan is a 20th century successor to 18th century Enlightenment thinkers. Yet he is a more modern… more

with Nicholas Snow

This is the third in our series of Timeless reading groups about Harriet Martineau’s Illustrations of Political Economy. This time, we will read and discuss the next two novellas in the series, from volumes 3… more

Celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday with one of his great villains! Shakespeare’s Richard III is a compelling portrait of the lengths to which ambition can drive a man. But is the play–despite its popularity–merely Tudor propaganda?… more

Does this bring back a high school reading assignment memory? Why not find a used copy, one that has surely been read by many, and sneak a couple-hour break from the world… and into a dystopian future?

Originally published in the… more

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