Book excerpt: New Canaan, Connecticut, is one of the richest towns in the U.S. The book is a compilation of 140 arbitrarily chosen individuals who have been past or present residents, from moralist Anthony Comstalk, the first female ambulance surgeon, and the inventor of the Tommy Gun, to David Letterman, Paul Simon, and Brian Williams. All is documented and includes tales never before published. Major architects, critics, authors, painters, business CEOs (IBM, GE, JetBlue, Perkin-Elmer), inventors, cartoonists, sculptors, teachers, and humanities leaders lived in the small town with a private railroad track directly to Grand Central in New York City. The compilation includes negative as well as positive views.