Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet and Beat publisher, could hardly seem more different from Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk, yet the two men not only respected one another but were friends and collaborators over a period of a decade until Merton's untimely death.

In Thomas Merton, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and the Protection of All Beings, Bill Morgan examines their friendship and shares their correspondence for the first time. He looks into the poetic projects they pursued and details their final meeting, shortly before Merton's passing, shedding new light on two of the most important writers of the 20th century.