Innovator and writer looks ahead - with caution Nov 16, 2009
Tom Wolfe wrote about Brand in "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test," and thanked him in the author's note. Brand is lanky, looking much taller from a distance than his 6 feet, and has a bright-eyed nerdiness that comes from a lifetime of picking function over fashion. (San Francisco Chronicle)
"Relics" of 1979! Nov 3, 2009
"The Right Stuff," by Tom Wolfe. "The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe, was one of the top 10 best-selling non-fiction books of 1979. The book took a look at the establishment of the space program, the astronauts' initial experience in space and the program's first flights. "The Dead Zone," by Stephen King This King book was one of the hottest fiction books of 1979. The novel centers around a man who recovers from a five year coma, only to discover he can see dark and horrifying secrets about people he... (CBS News -- Early Show)
Peeping Tom Wolfe Nov 1, 2009
So Pericoli set out to document the perspectives of the city s best-known residents, including David Byrne, Mario Batali, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Stephen Colbert, Philip Glass and Tom Wolfe ... TOM WOLFE Upper East Side ... So Pericoli set out to document the perspectives of the city s best-known residents, including David Byrne, Mario Batali, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Stephen Colbert, Philip Glass and Tom Wolfe. (New York Post -- Entertainment)
Media, money and a degree of madness Oct 23, 2009
Tom Wolfe, the novelist who so well captured modern mores of 1980s American society in "Bonfire of the Vanities" and the 1990s in "A Man in Full," probably shouldn't try to write a book to define this decade: The unfolding balloon boy saga says so much about us already. On the surface it's a story about media, money and a degree of madness - and the damage done to the children of Richard and Mayumi Heene. (Juneau Empire)
NASCAR takes a ride back in time Oct 20, 2009
In 1964, writer Tom Wolfe came south and profiled Junior Johnson, calling him the Last American Hero. At the time, NASCAR lived in places like Darlington and Rockingham and was hardly known outside the South. (News & Observer -- Sports)
Bonfire of the Varsities Sep 30, 2009
I Am Charlotte Simmons, Tom Wolfe, Farrar, Straus x, 676 pages ... On a hung-over morning during my sophomore year, I was two of the Beast s Billion Feet that Tom Wolfe had been stalking ... I often noticed Tom Wolfe sitting courtside at these games, and his account of the action on Dupont s court is every bit as gripping as A Man In Full s meat-freezer brawl. (The American Conservative)
End of Western economic era? Sep 25, 2009
In March 2007, American writer and journalist Tom Wolfe said "we may be witnessing the end of capitalism as we know it". Then in September last year, the British political philosopher John Gray said that "the era of American global leadership is over... in a change as far-reaching in its implications as the fall of the Soviet Union, an entire model of government and the economy has collapsed". (BBC News -- Americas)
Richard Merkin; RISD artist also dressed with expression Sep 19, 2009
He was the greatest of that breed, the Artist Dandy, since Sargent, Whistler, and Dali, the writer Tom Wolfe, a friend, wrote in an e-mail reminiscence Tuesday. Like Dali, he had one of the few remaining great mustaches in the art world. (Boston Globe)
New book examines Pat Tillman's death Sep 12, 2009
He practices what Robert Boynton of New York University calls "New New Journalism" - intensively reported and beautifully written nonfiction that builds on the work of the earlier "New Journalists," such as Tom Wolfe, Gay Talese and John McPhee. Boynton calls Krakauer the "gold standard" of New New Journalism because of his commitment to reporting, climbing Everest for "Into Thin Air" and spending five months in Afghanistan for "Where Men Win Glory.". (AZCentral)
Q&A: Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser Sep 3, 2009
(If you think that is too high praise, remember Time magazine listed Rockstar co-founders Dan and his brother Sam among its Top 100 influential people of 2009 and compared them to Dickens and Tom Wolfe. . (USA Today -- Tech)
A Test of Kennedy Currency Aug 28, 2009
Intriguingly, this suggests that either Democrats already had the idea when Limbaugh floated it, which would mean their protests were just so much opportunistic and cynical posturing, or they actually got the idea from Limbaugh himself, which would be too ironic for a Tom Wolfe novel. But that Kennedy's death should be marked by cynicism, opportunism and irony is not shocking, given that these qualities are now the hallmarks of the party he largely defined. (Townhall.com)
Genocide From the Inside Aug 25, 2009
Kidder picks up the trail of the old New Journalists, like Tom Wolfe, who pioneered in using the techniques of novelists to tell nonfiction stories. He relates Deogratias' tale, for the first half, from inside Deogratias' mind, drawing us into his stream-of-blood-and-consciousness. (Slate)
Innovation: As With Moon Landings, So With Medicine Aug 7, 2009
Tom Wolfe gave the ages the phrase "the right stuff" to describe the character of the astronauts. It matched a determination to make the Apollo program succeed no matter what - to venture beyond the beyond, behind the night (as World War I British poet Rupert Brooke wrote) to "some white tremendous daybreak.". (Townhall.com)
The king of all trips Jul 22, 2009
(Taking nothing away from Tom Wolfe s The Right Stuff, the best account of Apollo 11, for anyone interested, is Norman Mailer s Of a Fire on the Moon, which shows the brilliance the man could uncork on occasion. . (Boston Globe)
Tom Wolfe Has Me Rethinking the Space Program Jul 21, 2009
Maybe Will Blythe had the , Jess, but in Saturday's New York Times, I grudgingly admit, Tom Wolfe took the cake. To prepare us all for tonight's 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landingtoo bad the networks won't be running the original footage, since, as Sam pointed out, Wolfe wrote a little. (Slate)
Finding the Line on Interrogation Jul 20, 2009
In the NYT's op-ed section, Tom Wolfe on why the U.S. space program peaked with the moon landing and has never been the same since. Disclosure: Slate is owned by the Washington Post Co. Don't understand Today's Papers jargon. (Slate)
Column: Moon walk took big step to a united world Jul 20, 2009
All I remember from that talk was Schirra, who died in 2007, telling me I had interviewed him longer than author Tom Wolfe did in writing The Right Stuff. I m guessing he wasn t complimenting me. (Menomonie Dunn County News, WI)
Apollo 11 landing left world moonstruck Jul 19, 2009
By 1979, the afterglow long faded, author Tom Wolfe reminded us what really mattered about the space program. He dished up "The Right Stuff," a glorious recounting of the first astronauts and the race into space. (Athens Banner-Herald)
Ben Mezrich defends his approach to nonfiction writing Jul 19, 2009
Forgiving observers call Mezrich s approach an extension of a nonfiction tradition that has roots in Greek historian Herodotus and branches in the New Journalism of Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe. As Thompson wrote in jacket copy for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas about his own technique, In the end I found myself imposing an essentially fictional framework on what began as a piece of straight/crazy journalism. (Boston Globe)
A literary map of San Francisco Jul 19, 2009
Of course, the map isn't intended as a comprehensive collection of quotes about the city (apologies to Herbert Gold, Bret Harte, Khaled Hosseini, Fae Myenne Ng, Tom Wolfe and on and on). If you'd like to read more quotes, a few books make for excellent resources: "City by the Bay: San Francisco in Art and Literature" (edited by Alexandra Chappell; SFMOMA; 2002), "San Francisco Stories: Great Writers on the City" (edited by John Miller; Chronicle Books; 1990) and "The Literary World of San... (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
40 years after moonwalk, world of kid space books Jul 16, 2009
The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe s term for what it takes to challenge the limits of air and space exploration, oozes manliness, manhood, manly courage, writes Stone as she tells the story of 13 women pilots dubbed the Mercury 13. They withstood rigorous astronaut testing during America s fledgling manned space program and performed well, but they were denied further consideration in 1962. (La Crosse Tribune, WI)
Bernstein biography Jul 11, 2009
Writer Tom Wolfe forever branded him radical chic for hosting a Black Panther fund-raising party. In Leonard Bernstein: The Political Life of an American Musician, Barry Seldes makes a convincing case that to truly understand one of the most influential musicians of the last century, you need to understand how he responded directly to the moral climate and social-political milieu in which he lived. (Boston Globe)
He Wrote New York Jun 5, 2009
The works of Woody Allen, Tom Wolfe, Walt Whitman and George Templeton Strong help define the capital of the world ... Tom Wolfe: Journalist ... Tom Wolfe co-invented the field of New Journalism and was editor at New York Magazine and Esquire in the 1960s. (Suite101.com)
UM class of 2009: Getting it write - English major remains optimistic about journalism career May 13, 2009
These days, Mollet is glued to the work of Tom Wolfe, the famed journalist and novelist who helped usher in the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The idea of applying fiction-writing techniques to nonfiction stories appeals to Mollet. (Missoulian, MT)
'Christopher Buckley Tells All'... And He Ought To Be Ashamed May 13, 2009
He introduced me to Tom Wolfe and Marshall McLuhan s daughter one evening. So much for name-dropping. (Human Events Online)
Fresno Burns Building's boring looks belie colorful history May 10, 2009
"Starting from zero!" is how author Tom Wolfe described the spirit of the age in his 1981 history of the International Style, "From Bauhaus to Our House.". Wolfe was being sarcastic. (Fresno Bee)
From the ashes, a new capitalism May 8, 2009
Not for the first time, novelists (such as Tom Wolfe) and filmmakers (such as Oliver Stone with his Wall Street, featuring Gordon Gekko) were ahead of economists and political scientists in identifying the disorder. The classic justification for capitalists making large sums of money is the risk they take, but in this case they did not even take the risk. (Globe and Mail)
Portfolio's Flameout, Or How to Burn Money Fast Apr 29, 2009
They killed one of David Margolick's. " The photography budget was also deep. In true Conde Nast fashion, the photographers were always top notch, and well paid. Photo spreads for small stories in the front of book could easily run to $50,000 each. For one story, the magazine flew a photographer to eight different locations around the country. Lavish amounts were spent on cover stories that became inside stories. Money was thrown at market research too, especially in the long months before the... (Time.com)
Could Portfolio Have Survived? Apr 28, 2009
It was constructed as a business publication that would cover business the way it looks like from inside a few officesat Cond Nast, a world where uberwealthy hedge-fund managers compete to have witty things to say about 7,000-word Tom Wolfe stories while they collect tips about the latest places to buy eight-figure Francis Bacon paintings. Not to saythat such people don't exist (or didn't once exist), but to imagine they formed the basis of a viable business magazine was to misunderstand... (Slate)
Seersucker Suits, Pants and Jackets... Apr 19, 2009
It says the trilby might have been seen on Tom Wolfe sipping at the Napoleon House in the New Orleans French Quarter. Seersucker suits are now even offered by the Cheyenne-based Sierra Trading Post, but with some confusion regarding its history. (Suite101.com)
Rolling Stone Leaves S.F. Apr 19, 2009
Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, Tim Cahill, P.J. O'Rourke and Greil Marcus all contributed to the magazine. Filmmaker Cameron Crowe wrote for Rolling Stone as a teenager, an experience upon which he loosely based the movie "Almost Famous.". (San Francisco Chronicle -- Business)
Phil Spector found guilty of murder Apr 14, 2009
He would never again electrify the world as he did in the day when writer Tom Wolfe dubbed him "the tycoon of teen." Until, that is, the night he met Clarkson. Contributing: Elysa Gardner, Marco R. della Cava, the Associated Press. (USA Today -- Life)
Why Joel Stein is Not a Narcissist Apr 13, 2009
Narcissism has probably been increasing since the Renaissance, picking up speed in the 1970s when Tom Wolfe coined the Me decade and Christopher Lasch wrote The Culture of Narcissism, then speeding into hyperdrive during the past few years. Both Twenge and Pinsky argue that the narcissism of celebrities is being mirrored in the culture by Americans who, like a child, mimic attention-getting star behavior by singing on YouTube, sexting photos, getting plastic surgery or naming their totally... (Time.com)
Oh, you poor (bleeping) Wall Street types Apr 13, 2009
The phrase originated in Tom Wolfe s satirical novel The Bonfire of the Vanities, to describe a conniving Wall Street banker who metamorphosed from a Napoleon of finance to a jelly-legged coward after he and his mistress took a wrong turn and got marooned in the South Bronx slums. Author Michael Lewis, who s autobiographical Liar s Poker mercilessly lampoons. (Orangeburg Times and Democrat, SC)
Scott Turow Plans Sequel to a Classic Thriller Apr 8, 2009
In early 2008, Tom Wolfe ended a 40-year run at Farrar and announced he would publish his next novel, "Back to Blood," with the Hachette division Little, Brown and Co.. As with Wolfe, sales had dropped for Turow's recent books, notably "Ordinary Heroes.". (Newsmax)
Mr. Turner responds to Thomas Sowell's column Apr 6, 2009
Or does he include himself as one of "everyone?" Note, too, that he doesn't mind borrowing from author Tom Wolfe the particular connotation of the word "chic.". Mr. Sowell makes a lot of noise, but it is an old trick of sophistry to make a lot of noise and blame someone else for making it. (Lodi News Sentinel, CA)
Arrogance, greed and the American way Apr 1, 2009
It has been more than two decades since author Tom Wolfe described the inhabitants of Wall Street as "masters of the universe." Ever since he coined that phrase in Bonfires of the Vanities, their power, personal fortunes, arrogance, and greed have all increased by exponential proportions. Indeed, some of these chosen few now have bank accounts larger than some small countries. (Herald Online, SC -- Opinion)
On to Z! Quirky regional dictionary nears finish Mar 23, 2009
Author Tom Wolfe has called the dictionary "my favorite reading.". In awarding the two-year, $295,000 grant that will get the final volume into print, National Science Foundation reviewers called the dictionary "one of the most visible public faces of linguistics," and a "national treasure.". (AZCentral -- News)
Newsweek: The Feds take on Swiss banking Mar 17, 2009
("Every Master of the Universe knows the number," wrote "The Bonfire of the Vanities" author Tom Wolfe. Usually, the money is invested in something safe, such as T-bills. (MSNBC -- Business)
GOP Senate Whip Failed to Show Leadership on Obama Nominees Mar 13, 2009
In his defense, Kyl can claim that Kagan did not introduce herself to senators as one of those Alinksy-Steinem-I m-down-with-it-power-to-the-people caricatures from a Tom Wolfe essay. Not that it would matter, because he also voted in favor of Eric Holder s nomination as Attorney General despite the fact that Holder once recommended the pardon of terrorists. (Human Events Online)
Jim Bellows, editor revived flagging newspapers; at 86 Mar 9, 2009
LOS ANGELES - Jim Bellows, a legendary editor who built a career resuscitating underdog big-city newspapers from Los Angeles to New York and helped turn Tom Wolfe and Jimmy Breslin into stars, has died. He was 86. (Boston Globe)
Obituaries in the news Mar 7, 2009
LOS ANGELES (AP) Jim Bellows, a famed editor who transformed struggling newspapers in Los Angeles, Washington and New York, nurtured the careers of Tom Wolfe and Jimmy Breslin and helped make "Entertainment Tonight" a TV hit, has died. He was 86. (International Herald Tribune -- Travel)
More of this story Mar 4, 2009
With apologies to author Tom Wolfe, one can come home again. Or, within at least seven miles, anyway. (Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, OK)
Hero worship Mar 1, 2009
In doing so the creators of Watchmen arguably beat Tom Wolfe to the punch by a year, their work arriving well before his Bonfire Of The Vanities. A lengthy formula piece in some ways - some bad guys try to mess with the world, some good guys try to put a stop to the nefarious scheme - there were any number of points of divergence between Watchmen and what had come before but few as significant as the frailty of its heroes. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Newsweek: Are Execs Villains or Morons? Feb 25, 2009
In the past few months, we've been riveted and disgusted by the exploits of scamsters like and Allen Stanford (characters who, if they didn't exist, would have to be invented by Tom Wolfe). It's both easy and convenient to hold them up as the ultimate symbols of the just-ended boom. (MSNBC -- Business)
DESIGNER DECOYS: Local woodcarver's art honored with acceptance to Artisans Center Feb 23, 2009
"I also took two years of painting from (Denmark artist) Jim Harrison at Orangeburg High School back in the 1960s when he was an art teacher. I also took a woodworking class from Tom Wolfe at Orangeburg-Calhoun Tech about 15 years ago. But I really got interested in woodcarving when I saw some hand-carved and painted wooden ducks at an art show about 10 years ago."I always liked the look of ducks when I used to hunt, and I always thought I'd like to work with wood," O'Cain said. "This is... (Orangeburg Times and Democrat, SC)
Say what you mean, and say it mean Feb 22, 2009
Some of the best pages in the third fit are devoted to Tom Wolfe, especially his essay "These Radical Chic Evenings," about Leonard Bernstein's party for the Black Panthers. Wolfe's virtues and limitations are assessed, and Denby finds that, for all its cleverness, the essay is not "animated by the satirist's sharp, outraged, correcting desire for a better world." The lack of such desire, and its replacement instead by sleazy insult, may be heard in a comedian's utterance on TV last May: "Obama... (Boston Globe)
Whistling past the Afghan graveyard Feb 7, 2009
The phrase was originally used by Tom Wolfe. It was the brand name of the superhero action figures his protagonist's daughter plays with in his 1987 novel Bonfire of the Vanities. (Asia Times Online)
