Books by Tom Wolfe
Born: 1930Tom Wolfe Biography & Notes
Tom Wolfe (born March 2, 1931) is an American author and journalist.
Born in Richmond, Virginia, Wolfe took his first newspaper job in 1956 and eventually worked for the Washington Post and the New York Herald Tribune among others. While there he experimented with using fictional techniques in feature stories.
During the New York newspaper strike, he approached Esquire Magazine about an article on the hot rod and custom car culture of Southern California. He struggled with writing the article and editor Byron Dobell suggested that Wolfe send his notes to him so they could work together on the article. Wolfe sat down and wrote Dobell a letter saying everything he wanted to say about the subject, ignoring all conventions of journalism.
Dobell removed the salutation "Dear Byron" from the top of the letter and published the notes as the article. This was the birth of the New Journalism, in which some journalists and essayists experimented with all sorts of literary techniques, including free association, italics, and exclamation marks (even multiple exclamation marks) within the construct of a non-fictional article or essay.
In 1965 a collection of his articles in this style was published under the title The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby and Wolfe's fame grew. He wrote on popular culture, architecture, and politics, and other topics that interested him. His defining work from this era is The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, which epitomized the decade of the 1960s for many. Although a conservative in many ways and certainly not a hippie, Wolfe became one of the notable figures of the decade.
In 1979 Wolfe published The Right Stuff, an account of the pilots who became America's first astronauts. Famously following their training and unofficial, even foolhardy, exploits, he likened these heroes to "single combat champions" of an earlier era, going forth to battle on behalf of their country. The book became a movie in 1983.
Several other books followed before Wolfe's first novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, was published in 1987, having previously been serialized in Rolling Stone magazine. In 1998 his novel A Man in Full was published.
Tom Wolfe was paid $5 million for the film rights to Bonfire of the Vanities, the most ever earned by an author.
Born in Richmond, Virginia, Wolfe took his first newspaper job in 1956 and eventually worked for the Washington Post and the New York Herald Tribune among others. While there he experimented with using fictional techniques in feature stories.
During the New York newspaper strike, he approached Esquire Magazine about an article on the hot rod and custom car culture of Southern California. He struggled with writing the article and editor Byron Dobell suggested that Wolfe send his notes to him so they could work together on the article. Wolfe sat down and wrote Dobell a letter saying everything he wanted to say about the subject, ignoring all conventions of journalism.
Dobell removed the salutation "Dear Byron" from the top of the letter and published the notes as the article. This was the birth of the New Journalism, in which some journalists and essayists experimented with all sorts of literary techniques, including free association, italics, and exclamation marks (even multiple exclamation marks) within the construct of a non-fictional article or essay.
In 1965 a collection of his articles in this style was published under the title The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby and Wolfe's fame grew. He wrote on popular culture, architecture, and politics, and other topics that interested him. His defining work from this era is The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, which epitomized the decade of the 1960s for many. Although a conservative in many ways and certainly not a hippie, Wolfe became one of the notable figures of the decade.
In 1979 Wolfe published The Right Stuff, an account of the pilots who became America's first astronauts. Famously following their training and unofficial, even foolhardy, exploits, he likened these heroes to "single combat champions" of an earlier era, going forth to battle on behalf of their country. The book became a movie in 1983.
Several other books followed before Wolfe's first novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, was published in 1987, having previously been serialized in Rolling Stone magazine. In 1998 his novel A Man in Full was published.
Tom Wolfe was paid $5 million for the film rights to Bonfire of the Vanities, the most ever earned by an author.
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Basic Penknife Carving With Tom Wolfe by Tom Wolfe ( 1993) |
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Beyond the Boom New Voices on American Life, Culture, and Politics by ( 1990) |
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Bonfire of the Vanities Library Edition by Tom Wolfe ( 2008) |
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The Bonfire of the Vanities Library Edition by Tom Wolfe ( 2009) |
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The Bonfire of the Vanities Library Edition by Tom Wolfe ( 2009) |
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The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe ( 2008)
Sherman McCoy, a young investment banker in Manhattan, finds himself arrested following a freak accident and becomes involved with prosecutors, politicians, the press, and assorted hustlers. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.
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The Bonfire of the Vanities Library Edition by Tom Wolfe ( 2009) |
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Bonfire of the Vanities Library Edition by Tom Wolfe ( 2008) |
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The Bonfire of the Vanities Library Edition by Tom Wolfe ( 2009) |
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The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe ( 1990)
Sherman McCoy is an icon for the superficial life of the wealthy in New York City in the 1980s. His world is shaken by a sudden encounter with unexpected fear and danger when he accidently drives his $50,000 Mercedes into the South Bronx. Wolfe's novel touches on every rung of the social and economic ladder of the times, from inner-city communities, to scavenger-like New York reporters, to the daily grind at an Assistant D. A.'s office, to the highest rungs of the Wall Street bond market. First published in 1987, BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES is Tom Wolfe's first novel.
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Carving Bottlestoppers With Tom Wolfe by Tom Wolfe ( 2009) |
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Carving Down-Home Angels With Tom Wolfe by Tom Wolfe ( 2005) |
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Carving Fancy Walking Sticks by Tom Wolfe ( 2002) |
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Carving Santas With Special Interests by Tom Wolfe ( 1991) |
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Carving Santas for Today With Tom Wolfe by Tom Wolfe ( 2008) |
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El Coqueto, Aerodinamico Rocanrol Color Caramelo De Ron by Tom Wolfe ( 2002) |
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Declining By Degrees Higher Education at Risk by ( 2005)
A collection of controversial views on the state of higher education today, published to coincide with a PBS documentary, cautions readers that today's colleges and universities are succumbing to market-driven, bottom-line thinking that is compromising the quality of undergraduate education, in a volume that explores key causes and possible solutions. TV tie-in.
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Declining by Degrees Higher Education at Risk by Tom Wolfe ( 2006)
A collection of controversial views on the state of higher education today, based on the PBS documentary, cautions readers that today's colleges and universities are succumbing to market-driven, bottom-line thinking that is compromising the quality of undergraduate education, in a volume that explores key causes and possible solutions. Reprint.
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The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe ( 1987)
The escapades of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, a drug saturated group of hippies who journey in and out of trouble with the law.
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From Bauhaus to Our House Library Edition by Tom Wolfe ( 2000) |
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From Bauhaus to Our House by Tom Wolfe ( 1999)
The sequel to The Painted Word, "From Bauhaus To Our House" is now available for the first time in years.
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UN Homme, UN Vrai by Tom Wolfe ( 2000) |
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Hooking Up by Tom Wolfe ( 2000)
This collection of Tom Wolfe's journalism includes essays on the dating and sexual habits of teenagers, the fields of genetics and neuroscience, and TV magazines. It also includes two works of fiction, AMBUSH AT FORT BRAGG, a novella, AND "U. R. Here," a short story.
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I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe ( 2004)
With characteristic detail and aplomb Wolfe offers a portrait of modern college life through the story of the innocent but intelligent Charlotte Simmons and her times and travails in the halls and dorms of Dupont University.
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In Advance of the Landing Folk Concepts of Outer Space by Douglas Curran ( 2001)
Looks at the folklore surrounding UFOs from ancient times to the present.
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In Our Time by Tom Wolfe ( 1999)
Available for the first time in years, a classic collection of essays and drawings from bestselling novelist Tom Wolfe.
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The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby by Tom Wolfe ( 1999)
The first book of social commentary from bestselling novelist Tom Wolfe. In his first book -- a collection that launched its author as America's foremost entertainer with something to say -- Wolfe introduced us the Sixties, to extravagant new styles of life that had nothing to do with the "elite" culture of the past. The Twist, the Beatles, the Bouffant Hairdos, the Kar Kustomizers, and much more are brilliantly given their place in history, and the older cultural guard, struggling to preserve the forms of its status against the rising tide of barbarism, receives ruthless and hilarious scrutiny. Illustrated by the author's own "Metropolitan Sketchbook." The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby" was a dazzling debut.
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Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamlined Baby by Tom Wolfe ( 1980) |
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A Man in Full A Novel by Tom Wolfe ( 2001)
The setting is Atlanta, Georgia — a racially mixed, late-century boomtown full of fresh wealth and wily politicians. The protagonist is Charles Croker, once a college football star, now a late-middle-aged Atlanta conglomerate king whose outsize ego has at last hit up against reality. Charlie has a 29,000 acre quail-shooting plantation, a young and demanding second wife, and a half-empty office complex with a staggering load of debt.
Meanwhile, Conrad Hensley, idealistic young father of two, is laid off from his job at the Croker Global Foods warehouse near Oakland and finds himself spiraling into the lower depths of the American legal system. And back in Atlanta, when star Georgia Tech running back Fareek “the Canon” Fanon, a homegrown product of the city’s slums, is accused of date-raping the daughter of a pillar of the white establishment, upscale black lawyer Roger White II is asked to represent Fanon and help keep the city’s delicate racial balance from blowing sky-high. Networks of illegal Asian immigrants crisscrossing the continent, daily life behind bars, shady real estate syndicates — Wolfe shows us contemporary America with all the verve, wit, and insight that have made him our most admired novelist. Charlie Croker’s deliverance from his tribulations provides an unforgettable denouement to the most widely awaited, hilarious and telling novel America has seen in ages — Tom Wolfe’s most outstanding achievement to date. |
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Mark Seliger The Music Book by Tom Wolfe ( 2008)
As the number one photographer for Rolling Stone beginning in the 1980s and going on to work for Vanity Fair and GQ, Mark Seliger has gotten some choice assignments over the years. Collected here some of the best of the best of his portraits: Snoop, Johnny Cash, Dolly, the Boss, and the Chili Peppers are only a few of the artists featured. Tom Wolfe provides a foreword.
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Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine And Other Stories, Sketches, and Essays by Tom Wolfe ( 1999)
A classic collection of stories, essays, and drawings from bestselling novelist Tom Wolfe. "When are the 1970's going to begin?" ran the joke during the Presidential campaign of 1976, as both politicians and commentators tried vainly to figure out the mood the of the times. With his own patented combination of serious journalism and dazzling comedy, Wolfe meets the question head on -- and provides the 1970's with a name: "The Me Decade."
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The Mid-Atlantic Man and Other New Breeds in England and America by Tom Wolfe ( 1969) |
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Mouthpiece A Life In -- And Sometimes Just Outside -- The Law by Edward Hayes, SUSAN LEHMAN ( 2006) Edward Hayes is that unusual combination: the likable lawyer, one who could have stepped off the stage of Guys and Dolls or Chicago. Mouthpiece is his story, a colorful, irreverent, and revealing look at the practice of law in modern times and a social and political anatomy of New York City. It recounts Hayes’s childhood in the tough Irish sections of Queens and his eventual escape to the University of Virginia and then to Columbia Law. Not at all white-shoe firm material, Hayes headed to the hair-raising, crime-ridden South Bronx of the midseventies–first as a homicide prosecutor, and then as a defense attorney seeking to free the same sort of people he used to put in jail. Tom Wolfe immortalized this setting in The Bonfire of the Vanities; Ed Hayes was his guide, and he served as the model for the scrappy defense lawyer Tommy Killian. Eventually, Hayes moved his practice to Manhattan, using the rough-and-tumble techniques learned in the Bronx on behalf of the rich and powerful and famous. From a high-stakes legal shootout on the Andy Warhol estate to protecting the World Trade Center visions of architect Daniel Libeskind, Hayes has been behind the scenes of how New York City really operates. |
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New Journalism by Tom Wolfe ( 1973)
Comments on the evolution of the New Journalism and presents representative writings by Gay Talese, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, and others.
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New York The Liberty Edition by Gay Talese, John Updike, Ric Burns, Tom Wolfe ( 2008) |
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New York The Columbus Edition by Gay Talese, John Updike, Ric Burns, Tom Wolfe ( 2008) |
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New York The Lenape Edition by Gay Talese, John Updike, Ric Burns, Tom Wolfe ( 2009) |
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Our True Stay by Tom Wolfe ( 2006) |
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Out to the Ball Game With Tom Wolfe by Tom Wolfe ( 1993) |
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The Painted Word by Tom Wolfe ( 2008)
In this collection of satiric essays, Tom Wolfe slings mud at the masters of the 1990s avante-garde scene. He burlesques famous critiques of various works and deems renowned art theorists, such as Harold Rosenberg and Leo Steinberg, to be charlatans who are more influential than the artists themselves.
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El Peridismo Canalla Y Otros Articulos by Tom Wolfe ( 2001) |
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The Pump House Gang by Tom Wolfe ( 1999)
Available for the first time in years, a classic collection of essays and drawings from bestselling novelist Tom Wolfe Wolfe takes us among noble Sixties savages of all varieties, from La Jolla to London, all baying for new forms of status. Much of the book deals with a tell-tale phenomenon of life in the Sixties: a determined retreat from conventional social hierarchies which Wolfe termed "starting your own league." Surfers, motorcyclists, lumpen-dandies, and even stay-at-homes -- everybody was doing it. Except for social die-hards in the crumbling old social worlds of New York and London, where the confusion was so great that nobody could tell whether they were really on the path to the top or just on the service elevator. Dazzlingly brilliant as a stylist, daringly provocative as a commentator, and always entertaining, Tom Wolfe is here, as always, quite thoroughly ... himself. These exhilarating essays revive the Sixties with all their energy, their weirdness, their freaky vision, and their relevance to our more temperate times.
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The Purple Decades A Reader by Tom Wolfe ( 1982)
Gathers selections from Wolfe's previous essay collections about American culture, the Vietnam War, art and architecture, and the space program.
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The Purple Decades A Reader by Tom Wolfe, Joe David Bellamy ( 1982) |
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Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers by Tom Wolfe ( 1994)
Wolfe's two famous essays about race in America date from the late 1960s. In "Radical Chic" he takes his scalpel to a notorious party given by Leonard Bernstein in honor of the Black Panthers--an event which Wolfe immortalized as the ultimate in white condescension. "Mau-Mauing the Flak-Catchers" is about a confrontation between young black and Hispanic inner-city residents and the uptight Californians representing a bureaucratic "poverty program."
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Radical Chic and Mau-mauing the Flak Catchers by Tom Wolfe ( 2009) |
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Remembering Jack Intimate and Unseen Photographs of the Kennedys by Hugh Sidey, Jacques Lowe ( 2003)
An extraordinary collection of six hundred photographs from the archives of the Kennedy family, many never before published, taken by JFK's personal photographer Jacques Lowe, is accompanied by personal commentary from friends and family and captures some of the intimate moments within the Kennedy enclave.
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Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe ( 2008)
The moments of grandeur and weakness, the aspirations, and the problems of America's test pilots and first astronauts are revealed in an exploration of the dimensions of their inner lives in space and on the earth. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.
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Rolling Stone The Photographs by Tom Wolfe ( 1993)
A collection of photographs from Rolling Stone magazine features familiar shots of such celebs as Jagger, Nicholson, Madonna, Brando, Bowie, Mailer, Reagan, Belushi, Eastwood. Reprint.
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Site Identity In Density by James N. Wines ( 2005) |
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Soy Charlotte Simmons / I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe ( 2006) |
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Surf Culture The Art History of Surfing by San Jose Museum of Art, Calif.) Laguna Art Museum (Laguna Beach, Hawaii) Contemporary Museum (Honolulu ( 2002) |
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Todo UN Hombre by Tom Wolfe ( 2001) |
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Tom Wolfe Carves Egg Heads & Other Eggcellent Things by Tom Wolfe ( 2008) |
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Tom Wolfe Carves Fancy Canes by Tom Wolfe, Molly Higgins ( 2001) |
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Tom Wolfe Carves Old-world Santas by Tom Wolfe, Molly Higgins ( 2001) |
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Tom Wolfe Carves Spirit Canes by Tom Wolfe ( 2008) |
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Underneath the I-Beams. Sequel to the Painted Word by Tom Wolfe ( 1981) |
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Understanding Me Lectures And Interviews by Marshall McLuhan ( 2005) |
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Words of Ages Witnessing U.S. History Through Literature by Frederick Douglass, Tom Wolfe, Toni Morrison, Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edith Wharton ( 2000) |
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