Humphrey Bancroft Neill (1895-1977) was a former World War I lieutenant, having served under General John “Blackjack” Pershing, and a noted economist. Living out of an old 18th-century farmhouse in the hamlet of Saxtons River, Vermont, far away from the hustle and bustle of Wall Street, he ruminated on the markets of the day and penned his thoughts to subscribers of his newsletter, Neill’s Contrary Opinion.
Always eager to question the consensus, he became widely regarded as the “father of contrary opinion.” His published works include Understanding American Business (1939), The Inside Story of The Stock Exchange: A Fascinating Saga of the World’s Greatest Money Market Place (1950) and The Art of Contrary Thinking: It Pays To Be Contrary (1960).
