With Good Reason

Written in another time and in another country, the Russian classics — Tolstoy, Lermontov, and all the rest — are still relevant today.  Andrew Kaufman (University of Virginia) and his students are proving that by teaching masterpieces of Russian literature to incarcerated youth.  The readings prompt discussions: What makes for a “successful” life? How I [...]

When faced with a court order to integrate, Prince Edward County in Virginia closed its entire school system in 1959 rather than integrate. The closure lasted five years and was part of a larger policy enacted by the state called Massive Resistance.   Larissa Smith Fergeson (Longwood University) speaks to people who were students in [...]

The Camino de Santiago, a medieval pilgrimage trail in northern Spain, continues to attract tens of thousands of travelers each year. Among those are George Greenia (William & Mary, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities), who for years has walked the 500-mile route with his students. George studies the relationship between medieval and modern pilgrimages. He [...]

Antonio Garcia (Virginia Commonwealth University) says that the personal and professional lives of musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane cannot be divorced from the struggle for racial equality—they contributed in significant ways to interracial understanding and social progress.  Also featured: The composers of the Civil Rights anthem “Lift Every Voice and [...]

Scholars from around the world gathered recently for George Mason University’s forum Beyond Golden Age and Decline: Muslim Societies and Global Modernity, 1300-1900.  Some of the scholars joined With Good Reason to talk about the legacy of Muslim societies in today’s world.  Giancarlo Casale (University of Minnesota) says in its heyday, the Ottoman Empire was [...]