Journalist and cultural critic Kate Bolick is back with another season of Touchstones: Conversations at The Mount in Lenox, MA. On Thursday afternoon, Kate will be having an intimate conversation with author Lee Siegel about his memoir, The Draw.
The book tells the story of the unforgiving sovereignty of money. Hoping to make a killing in New Jersey real estate, Lee’s dad Monroe Siegel, takes a draw from his employer against unearned commission. When the recession hits in the 1970s, Monroe finds himself owing a small fortune to his firm.
He sinks toward divorce and bankruptcy, while Lola, Lee's mother, suffers a nervous breakdown that turns her into a different person. Shamed and enraged by his father's fate, Lee grows up wondering what society owes a person who has failed materially but preserved his humanity.