901Z Spring 2026 Monday Lecture Series

901Z  Monday Lecture Series
Eight sessions
Instructors: Larrie Ferreiro, Elizabeth Reese, Rosolino Candela, David Mould, Liang Luo, Ben Gold, Ilya Somin, Mike Agron
Mondays, 11:50—1:15, Mar. 23—May 11
Mar. 23: Book Talk: Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It.
Made possible by a grant from the VA250 Commission in partnership with Virginia Humanities. 
The success of the War of American Independence depended on substantial military assistance provided by France and Spain, which saw their strategic interests align with those of America in the fight against England. At the time the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord, the American colonists had almost no chance of militarily defeating the British. The United States had no navy, little in the way of artillery, and a militia bereft even of gunpowder. Without the extensive military and financial support of the French and Spanish, the American cause would never have succeeded. France and Spain provided close to the equivalent of $30 billion and 90 percent of all guns used by the Americans, and they sent soldiers and sailors by the thousands to fight and die alongside the Americans, as well as around the world. Instead of viewing the American Revolution in isolation, Brothers at Arms shows that the American nation was born as the centerpiece of an international coalition fighting against a common enemy. 
Dr. Larrie D. Ferreiro is the 2017 Pulitzer Prize finalist in History for Brothers at Arms. His most recent book, Churchill’s American Arsenal, was published in 2022 under Oxford University Press. He teaches history and engineering at George Mason University.
Mar. 30: A Nation in Mourning: Fathers, Daughters, and the Politics of Grief in the Early American Republic.
Made possible by a grant from the VA250 Commission in partnership with Virginia Humanities.
In the Early American Republic, the deaths of national leaders were not only public events, but also private family tragedies. This lecture explores the intimate and often overlooked role of daughters in the grief and commemoration of prominent founding fathers like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe. Through letters, eulogies, and mourning customs, we’ll examine how these women navigated personal sorrow within a politically charged atmosphere, and how their experiences helped shape early national memory. Drawing from archival sources and contemporary memorial practices, this talk considers how female kin became stewards of legacy — balancing societal prescriptions of femininity with the weight of public remembrance. What did it mean for a daughter to grieve a president, not only as a parent but also as a symbol? And how did their mourning become a powerful political act? Join this session for a reflection on the intersections of gender, memory, and mourning in the young republic—and what these stories reveal about how nations, and families, remember. 
Elizabeth M. Reese is a public historian specializing in grief, celebrity, and public memory. Based in Washington, D.C., she has worked at various historic sites and is currently the senior manager of Public Programs and Interpretation at Woodlawn & Pope-Leighey House. Her work has appeared in TIME, the Journal of the American Revolution, and CSPAN.
Apr. 6: Is Market Pricing 'Imperfect'? What is the role of the price system in a market economy? Like traffic signals, market prices guide individuals in their decision-making, generating outcomes that no one intends. This lecture will cover the fundamental aspects of market pricing, the underlying preconditions necessary for market pricing to work well, and the reasons why we see different pricing mechanisms existing under different circumstances across time and place. Ultimately, market prices are necessary, compared to alternative mechanisms for resource allocation, precisely because of—not in spite of—the fact they are "imperfect." 
Rosolino Candela is a senior fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, and a program director of Research and Programs at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He holds an appointment as affiliate faculty in the Department of Economics. Candela is also professor of Economics at Universidad Francisco Marroquín.  
Apr. 13: The Borders of Our Minds. In his latest book on travel, history and culture, Postcards from the Borderlands, historian and journalist David Mould explores the meaning of borders. Are they simply political and geographical, marked by posts, walls and fences, or should we think of them more broadly? Some borders, set by surveys and treaties, take no account of geography, language, and culture. There are borders within countries—physical, economic, or social. And finally, there are the borders of our minds—the way we may think of unfamiliar places. David’s journey begins with maps and cartoons that poke fun at how we view cities and regions in the U.S. and other parts of the world. He explores how the borders of Ukraine have changed over time. He moves on to the carve-up of Africa, the artificial (and often straight-line) borders drawn by colonial powers, and to Central Asia and the border casualties of the dissolution of the Soviet Union—that gerrymandered jumble of countries whose names end in -stan. He ends up in South Asia, with the tragic decision to partition British India along religious lines in 1947, and explores “the world’s craziest border” between India and Bangladesh. 
David Mould, PhD, professor emeritus of Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University, has traveled widely in Asia and southern Africa. Born in the U.K., he worked as a newspaper and TV journalist before moving to the U.S. in 1978. He is the author of three books on travel, history, and culture.
Apr. 20: The Global Travels of the Chinese White Snake Legends. In the Chinese legends of the White Snake, woman is not seduced by the snake but is herself the snake, who would form a sexual liaison with a human male, and, in some versions, even give birth to a human son. Originating as a very local legend on the deadly dangers of seduction and infatuation, the story grew into one of China’s most popular love stories that allowed its adapters past and present to explore all possibilities of the relations between the sexes. This class foregrounds the Chinese White Snake legends and their extensive, multidirectional travels throughout East Asia, as well as in Southeast Asia and North America, from the late nineteenth century to the present, in print, on stage, in cinema and in digital media. Such travels across linguistic and cultural boundaries have generated distinctive traditions as the White Snake has been reinvented in the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and English speaking worlds, among others. Moreover, the inter-Asian voyages and global circulations of the White Snake legends have enabled them to become repositories of diverse and complex meanings for a great number of people, serving as reservoirs for polyphonic expressions ranging from the attempts to consolidate authoritarian power to the celebrations of minority rights and activism, which are key issues confronting our contemporary world today.
Liang Luo is professor of Chinese Studies and chair of the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at George Mason University. She is the author of The Global White Snake (University of Michigan Press, 2021) and The Avant-Garde and the Popular in Modern China (University of Michigan Press, 2014). Chinese versions of both books just came out from leading Chinese publishers in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai.  
Apr. 27: Supreme Court: Ethics and Recusals. There is no formal law or regulation governing which ethics rules apply to Supreme Court Justices and when they should recuse themselves from participating on a case in which they may be biased or perceived to be biased. In this session we shall look at what might cause a Justice to be biased. We will review actual cases when they did recuse themselves as well as cases where it appears they should have but did not. 
Ben Gold served for 18 years as a docent at the Supreme Court and over the past 20 years has taught many classes at OLLI about the history of the Court and classes discussing ongoing cases. He holds a BA in Political Science from Stanford University and an MS in Computer Science.  
May 4: How to Alleviate the Housing Crisis. Many parts of the U.S. are suffering from a housing crisis that makes homes unduly expensive and prevents many people—particularly the poor and minorities—from “moving to opportunity,” thereby harming the national economy. The main causes of the crisis are restrictions on housing construction, most notably exclusionary zoning. Most such restrictions are both harmful and unconstitutional, violating the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and similar provisions in most state constitutions. The problem should be addressed by a combination of litigation and political action. 
Ilya Somin is professor of Law at George Mason University and B. Kenneth Simon chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute. He is the author of Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom (Oxford University Press, rev. ed., 2022), Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter (Stanford University Press, rev. ed. 2016), and The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain (University of Chicago Press, 2015). Somin has also published articles in a variety of popular press outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, CNN, The Atlantic, and USA Today. He is a regular contributor to the popular Volokh Conspiracy law and politics blog, affiliated with Reason magazine.
May 11: Jazz on the Big Screen: The Music That Defined Film. Discover how jazz evolved from background music to a powerful storytelling tool on the big screen. In this session, we’ll explore seven distinct jazz styles: West Coast Cool Jazz; Bossa Nova; Big Band and Swing; Hard Bop; Soul Jazz and Blues; Modal Jazz; and Jazz Fusion—and see how they transformed film and television soundtracks in the 50s and 60s. From the moody tension of film noir to the vibrant energy of jazz fusion, learn how jazz became a defining force in shaping cinematic experiences, leaving an enduring legacy that continues to influence films today. Even if you’re not a die-hard jazz fan, you’ll discover how these unforgettable soundtracks enhance storytelling and make the magic of cinema even more immersive. 
Music Aficionado Mike Agron, raised in LA’s entertainment scene, is a former high-tech executive and entrepreneur turned storyteller who crafts dynamic seminars on music and film. He’s led hundreds of engaging sessions for the Sacramento Renaissance Society, numerous OLLIs nationwide, Osher Online, Encore Learning, and other live programs—and this spring he returns for his eighth lecture with OLLI Mason.