The Author Series Presents...

ELISA NEW, HARVARD PROFESSOR
AND AUTHOR OF “JACOB’S CANE”

Monday, March 1, 2010 ~ Main Clubhouse
7 pm Coffee & Dessert, Discussion and Book Signing

Elisa New is Professor of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard University. She is the author of The Line’s Eye and The Regenerate Lyric. She lives with her husband, economist Larry Summers, in Brookline, Ma and Washington, D.C.

Elisa’s latest book, “Jacob’s Cane” is a memoir in five generations dealing with a Jewish family’s journey from the four lands of Lithuania to the ports of London and Baltimore. When Elisa New held her great-grandfather Jacob Levy’s cane in her hands for the first time in 1997, its elegant, finely-crafted design led her to realize for the first time that her family’s story was not the standard coming-to-America tale she had long assumed. Embarking on a journey of discovery with her daughter Yael — with little more than a pile of maps, a tank of gas and a debit card at hand — New traveled from the suburban parlors of Baltimore to World War II war fields of Belgium to Lithuanian graveyards in order to trace the paths of previous generations. New’s vivid account tells the story of a mother-daughter research team, their travels and their discovery of the alternative immigrant experience of their ancestors. Along the way, she answers questions long unanswered, such as: Why did her family leave Lithuania? Why had they always claimed Austrian identities, denying their Eastern European background? And how did her great grandfather Jacob Levy come to curse his own sons?

Price per person: $10 (plus Club charge & tax) includes discussion and coffee & dessert;
cancellation date: Thur., Feb 25, 2010.

Bring along your copy of the book to be signed by the
author, or copies will be available for purchase at a 20% discount courtesy of the Harvard Coop!

Joshua Kendall, Chair