The Reading Room

Setting: Present-day Notre Dame Cathedral. It is nightfall.

The great, long-silent bells toll, their resonant voices echoing across the Paris sky. Now, a lone figure moves among the towering spires, the freshly restored stonework,… more

February’s OLL Birthday essay is dedicated to Anthony Ashley Cooper, better known to history as the Third Earl of Shaftesbury, or sometimes just Shaftesbury. He was an important statesman and Whig politician during the turbulent… more

While one idly day-dreams, one frequently imagines how the world and all within it might be different. What if the clouds were red? What if I won a million dollars, tax-free? What if I did not have to wake up at 5 a.m. during the… more

In November, Liberty Fund hosted a virtual reading group on Eric Hoffer's short book, The True Believer. 

One topic of discussion was Hoffer's conservatism, which is implicit to his theories of mass movements. One place it’s… more

The Great Gatsby ends on a sad note. The book's namesake, Gatsby, lies dead in a pool. He experiences a second death when his funeral is sparsely attended. The house that was so full when he was alive lies empty in his death. George… more