In August 2020, The Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization (AHI) announced that it would respond to the cancellation and postponement of programmatic activities because of the Covid pandemic by creating four reading clusters, open to a national audience, using Zoom. By all reports, AHI’s experiment in remote learning proved successful.
In building on the success of our initial experiment, AHI announces four new and exciting reading clusters beginning February 2021. AHI Resident Fellow David Frisk, a Ph.D. in political science from Claremont Graduate University, will lead two of the clusters. Former Pentagon speech writer Lauren Weiner will lead the third. Dr. Timothy Minella, a historian of science at the University of Kentucky will lead the fourth.
Each reading cluster will admit a maximum of twenty-five persons on a first-come, first-served basis. If seats are available, latecomers to the intellectual feast will be accommodated. If you are interested in committing to the course, please contact the group leader using the email address provided below.
Reading Cluster I (David Frisk): “Leadership and Ideas in American History: The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It by Richard Hofstadter“
Meeting time: Weekly, Monday, February 1 through Monday, May 3, 7-8:15 p.m. (EST)
To sign up, contact Dr. Frisk at dfrisk@theahi.org
AHI Resident Fellow David Frisk received his Ph.D. in political science from Claremont Graduate University in 2009 with specialties in American politics and political philosophy. He is also a graduate of Reed College with a degree in history. His publications include If Not Us, Who? William Rusher, National Review, and the Conservative Movement (2012). Participants will read all of the essays in this fascinating, well-written, and influential work of intellectual and political history, which analyzes both the ideas and the forms of political leadership represented by the major presidents — and some other prominent figures — from the American Founding through Franklin Roosevelt. To provide additional viewpoints, we will also read several short items by other authors.
Reading Cluster II (David Frisk): “Winston Churchill: World Statesman”
Meeting time: Weekly, Thursday, February 4 through Thursday, May 6, 7-8:15 p.m. (EST)
To sign up, contact Dr. Frisk at dfrisk@theahi.org
AHI Resident Fellow David Frisk received his Ph.D. in political science from Claremont Graduate University in 2009 with specialties in American politics and political philosophy. He is also a graduate of Reed College with a degree in history. His publications include If Not Us, Who? William Rusher, National Review, and the Conservative Movement (2012). Participants will read large portions of the highly acclaimed biography Churchill: Walking with Destiny by Andrew Roberts.
Reading Cluster III (Lauren Weiner): “Great Speeches in History: From Pericles to Thatcher”
Meeting time: Weekly, Wednesday, February 3 to Wednesday, April 28, 7 to 8 p.m. (EST)
To sign up, contact Ms. Weiner at lweiner6@gmail.com
Lauren Weiner’s writing life has taken her to jobs as an editor, reporter, Capitol Hill staffer, and Pentagon speechwriter. She wrote speeches for former Senator Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) and spent three years as a speechwriter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Her articles and reviews on political, literary, and historical topics have appeared in many publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Commentary, TheFederalist.com, the Weekly Standard, AmericanPurpose.com, the New Criterion, the Washington Times, and the Baltimore Sun. Ms Weiner’s group will examine speeches by Pericles, Queen Elizabeth, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Sojourner Truth, Abraham Lincoln, John L. Lewis, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, General George S. Patton, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and Margaret Thatcher.
Reading Cluster IV (Timothy Minella): Thomas Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Meeting time: Weekly, Tuesday, February 2 to Tuesday, March 23, 5-6 p.m. (EST)
To sign up, contact Dr. Minella at tim.minella@gmail.com
Timothy K. Minella is a Lecturer in the Lewis Honors College, University of Kentucky. He earned a B.A. with a double major in physics and government at Hamilton College. He holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of South Carolina. He has taught courses in the history of science, American history, and the humanities. Thomas Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) stands as one of the most influential books of the twentieth century. Profound and clearly written, its influence spans disciplines.
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