“The Rich Get Richer: How Our Quest to Accumulate Wealth has Divided America” will be the topic of a conversation between author/journalist Michael Mechanic and local author and campaigner Chuck Collins, at 7:00pm on Tuesday, August 3, at 118 Elliot (118 Elliot Street, Brattleboro). Since Mechanic and Collins share overlapping interests, their dialogue about the surprising advantages and pitfalls of wealth hoarding promises to be as lively as it is informative. The Rich Get Richer event is live, indoors, and limited to 50 people.

Michael Mechanic is a veteran senior editor at Mother Jones whose writing and editing have resulted in dozens of journalism awards. He is author of the new book, Jackpot: How the Super-Rich Really Live –and How Their Wealth Harms Us All. His work at Mother Jones has often focused on social and criminal justice, racial disparities, mass incarceration, economic inequality, and corporate shenanigans. Since writing Jackpot, he’s been looking more at the ways the wealthiest Americans manipulate the system to their advantage. He lives in Oakland, California, but grew up messing around in the Windham woods and brooks with his local cousins. His late mother, Maggie Newton, grew up on a farm near Hamilton Falls where her parents, David and Margaret Newton, established the Newton School for boys; she later moved to Brattleboro and played in the local orchestra.