Friends of the BPL hosts author Steve Landsberg, PING

Blending meticulously researched history with compelling family drama, PING reveals how a seemingly simple game became a powerful tool of propaganda and diplomacy. In an interview with Bronxville resident Brian Fetherstonhaugh, CEO of the Longview Talent Group, Landsberg will discuss the historical fiction novel, which moves between 1950s Communist Europe, the historic 1971 U.S.–China thaw known as “ping pong diplomacy,” and the present day, exploring themes of truth, legacy, and the quiet forces that shape world events.

“Our goal was to educate and entertain,” said Landsberg. “We wanted to tell a story where the simple game of ping pong revealed something much bigger and surprising.”

In the early Cold War years, ping pong was far more than a pastime—it was a subtle weapon in the global struggle for influence, power, and ideology. The novel “ping-pongs” between the real-life political maneuvering of the 1971 diplomatic breakthrough and the fictional story of Jenny, a teenage ping pong prodigy grappling with the weight of her family’s past.

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Host or Publisher Friends of the Bronxville Public Library