Wolfe, Tom (1930-2018), was an American journalist, essayist, novelist, and social commentator. Much of his work is an example of New Journalism, which mixes detailed reporting with controversial opinion.
Wolfe wrote about many aspects of modern life and the arts. His first book, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby (1965), is a collection of essays about modern American life styles. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) is Wolfe’s account of American author Ken Kesey’s travels with a group called the Merry Pranksters on a bus throughout the United States in the 1960’s. Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers (1970) is a controversial description of a fund-raiser for the radical Black Panther Party at the home of symphony conductor Leonard Bernstein. The Right Stuff (1979) describes the selection, training, and daily lives of the first seven American astronauts. The Painted Word (1975) criticizes the pretensions Wolfe saw in modern art. From Bauhaus to Our House (1981) attacks modern architecture. The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987) is a novel about the wealthy and the poor in New York City. A Man in Full (1998) is a complex novel about politics and racial tensions in modern Atlanta. I Am Charlotte Simmons (2004) is a satirical exploration of life on a modern American university campus. Back to Blood (2012) examines class, wealth, and corruption in modern Miami.
Thomas Kennerly Wolfe, Jr., was born on March 2, 1930, in Richmond, Virginia. He was a newspaper reporter and an editor for New York and Esquire magazines, where much of his writing first appeared. Wolfe died on May 14, 2018.
