"Wilbur H. "Ping" Ferry (1910-1995) was a self-styled "town crank," an influential and iconoclastic figure who seemingly knew everyone worth knowing in the mid-twentieth century.".

"Businessman, thinker, activist, government advisor, and philanthropist, Ping had a career as varied as his pronouncements. He taught John F. Kennedy at Choate, advised Eddie Rickenbacker at Eastern Airlines, worked a craps table in Havana, reported for several New Hampshire newspapers, and handled public relations for Sidney Hillman and his CIO/PAC. After World War II, he joined a public relations firm where he worked closely with Henry Ford II and John D. Rockefeller.

He helped Ford establish his foundation, and with Robert Hutchins set up the Fund for the Republic, which later became the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara, California.".

"The book also reveals that Ping had a quieter, softer side. He treasured his friends, who were to be found across the globe, played the piano, formed a close relationship with the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, and assisted many struggling artists. He attracted followers who admired his independence and forthrightness, people who wished to be more like him. In Victor Navasky's words, Ping's ultimate importance was "the impossible example he set for the rest of us.""--BOOK JACKET.