Join us as we explore mayhem, murder, and mischief in the “Hub of the Universe”— our own Boston, Massachusetts. The course presentations will cover the Great Fire of 1872, the Police Strike of 1919, the arson spree of the 1980s, the 1999 Deer Island Tunnel tragedy, and the 1917 Halifax Explosion (and why it means Boston receives a free Christmas tree every year). We will visit the Boston Athenaeum’s special collections to view materials related to the Great Fire, and we will enjoy a private tour of the…

Marking what would have been her 100th year in 2025, this course offers an in-depth exploration of the short fiction of Flannery O’Connor, one of the most distinctive voices in American literature. Known for her piercing wit, Southern Gothic style, and theological vision, O’Connor’s stories confront readers with characters caught in moments of violence, revelation, and unexpected grace. Through close readings of key works, the class will examine O’Connor’s use of irony, symbolism, and grotesque imagery to illuminate complex themes of morality, redemption, race, and the limits of…

Winslow Homer’s artistic journey carried him from a widely admired illustrator to one of the most influential painters in American art. Beginning with works such as Sharpshooter on Picket Duty (1863, Portland Museum of Art) and extending to late masterpieces like Driftwood (1909, MFA Boston), Homer continually reinvented his approach and deepened his vision. Originally sent by Harper’s Weekly to document the Civil War, he focused on the human dimensions of conflict rather than battlefield heroics. In the 1870s he began to explore watercolor, a medium that opened…

Any one of Jerry Herman’s hit Broadway shows – Hello Dolly, Mame, and La Cage aux Folles – would guarantee his Broadway immortality, but his career extended beyond this trio of hits. Herman was a throwback to an earlier era when showtunes had a life beyond the theatre. This was especially true of any songs that were easily hummable, and Herman was a master of the very melodic, yet high quality, tune. We’ll also explore themes from his shows that resonated at the time but might be controversial…

Who was Leonard Cohen? He had many identities: novelist, poet, lyricist, musician, Jewish mystic, Buddhist monk, Canadian, Montrealer, lover (but never a husband), father, and perhaps above all, a man searching for something we might call meaning or truth in the world he inhabited. Did he find it? By exploring his identities, we will interpret what Cohen left behind, from a “lullaby for suffering” to the broken Hallelujah of a “manual for living with defeat.” We will begin with a documentary film, I’m Your Man, that includes many…

A brilliant, witty, and prophetic chronicler of North American life over the past 65 years, Margaret Atwood is, without doubt, one of our greatest living authors. She has written an extraordinary body of work that continues to expand, from early novels like The Edible Woman to the famous Handmaid’s Tale and haunting short story collections. We will look at the development of her craft as we read stories from her early book Wilderness Tips (1991) and the more recent publications Stone Mattress: Nine Wicked Tales (2014 ) and…

More than three decades ago, two thieves slipped out of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with 13 priceless works of art—treasures now valued at roughly half a billion dollars. The FBI launched a massive investigation, and the museum’s trustees put up a $10 million reward for their safe return. Yet more than 35 years later, not a single piece has resurfaced, and no arrests have ever been made. Why not? This unsolved heist remains an immense loss to the art world and the city of Boston, and a…

How were the dreams and disappointments of the Russian Revolution, the utopias it promised and dystopias that often resulted, reflected in Soviet science fiction films? During this five-session (with an optional sixth session) course, we will explore the evolution of these films over five key periods in Soviet history – from the heady post-revolutionary 1920s through the authoritarian Stalin regime, the thaw of the Khrushchev era, the stagnation of the Brezhnev era, and, finally, the collapse of the USSR during the regime of Mikhail Gorbachev. We’ll begin with…

Dearly Beloved – We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of a devoted friend. She has given us all so much over the years. But, in the end, she simply could not survive the ceaseless clamor of the modern world. There is no need for an autopsy: We have killed her. With our own two hands. Some with the right. And some with the left. The death of reading is already having a profound effect on society. Even at elite universities, students are no longer being…

“Tell me, Muse, of the man of many ways, who was driven far journeys after he sacked Troy’s sacred city. Many were they whose cities he saw, whose minds he learned of, many the pains he suffered in his spirit on the wide sea, struggling for his own life and the homecoming of his companions.” So begins the Odyssey, the extraordinary and monumental epic of the long-suffering, shrewd Odysseus who, ten years after the fall of Troy, longs to return home where his wife is fending off suitors…

Everyone recognizes the grunting, green movie monster. Few, however, know the original story of Dr. Frankenstein and his poor nameless creature. Using the splendid Norton Critical Edition, we will read the novel, then meet Mary Shelley and the Romantic geniuses who helped inspire her. We'll learn how the creature is the true tragic hero, and how stage and screen adaptations turned him into one of the great modern myths. Join us, and I feel certain that you will be surprised and delighted to discover the real Frankenstein.  …

Once relatively uncommon, investigations and prosecutions of white-collar crimes have become an important part of modern legal practice. But this development has sometimes stretched the criminal law to — some would say beyond —the breaking point. Again and again, it has thrown up vexingly difficult questions as to how the law should distinguish between permissible business or business-related conduct and conduct that can lead to years in jail. This course will examine a number of these thorny questions and the manner in which our legal system has grappled…

Inequality in the distribution of income and wealth in the United States is both high and rising—and exceeds that of all other advanced industrial nations. In this seminar, we will explore the economic and political forces driving this inequality, as well as its consequences for political polarization, public health, and social mobility. Although related to poverty, inequality is a distinct phenomenon with its own far-reaching effects. Today, it is eroding democratic values and institutions and fueling antidemocratic populism and autocratic tendencies. We will also examine how economic and…

William Butler Yeats’s poetry ranges from the intensely lyrical to the overtly nationalistic. This course will trace those influences in two twentieth-century Celtic poets who followed him. Welsh poet Dylan Thomas inherited Yeats’s flowing lyricism, drawing on the landscapes and rhythms of his native country, yet he also addressed broader concerns of the 1930s and 1940s through his influential radio broadcasts. Seamus Heaney likewise absorbed Yeats’s example: his early work is deeply rooted in Irish rural life while remaining alert to the political tensions surrounding Ireland’s struggle with…