The Right Stuff
A widely regarded, self-contained introduction to Wolfe's narrative nonfiction and New Journalism.
Author guide
Tom Wolfe Books in Order
Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. was an American writer, journalist, essayist, and novelist born in Richmond, Virginia. He earned a bachelor's degree from Washington and Lee University and a doctorate in American studies from Yale University, then worked for newspapers including the Washington Post and New York Herald Tribune. Wolfe helped define New Journalism by combining immersive reporting, scene-based narrative, dialogue, social observation, satire, and distinctive typography. His nonfiction examined popular culture, counterculture, politics, art, architecture, aviation, and language; his later fiction developed large-scale satirical portraits of American class and status. He was also a visual artist whose drawings appeared in several of his books.
new journalismnonfictionessaynovelsatire
Catalog record updated .
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
The Bonfire of the Vanities
The clearest starting point for Wolfe's large-scale social fiction.
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (9)
- The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
nonfiction · 1968
Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test ushered in an era of New Journalism, "An American classic" (Newsweek) that defined a generation. "An astonishing book" (The New York Times Book Review) and an unflinching portrait of Ken Kesey,…
- The Painted Word
nonfiction · 1975
"America's nerviest journalist" (Newsweek) trains his satirical eye on Modern Art in this "masterpiece" (The Washington Post) Wolfe's style has never been more dazzling, his wit never more keen. He addresses the scope of Modern Art, from…
- The Right Stuff
nonfiction · 1979
A wonderful novel and perfect book club choice, The Right Stuff is a wildly vivid and entertaining chronicle of America's early space programme. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY US ASTRONAUT SCOTT KELLY 'What is it,' asks Tom Wolfe, 'that makes a…
- From Bauhaus to Our House
nonfiction · 1981
A lamentation on the state of modernist, international style architecture. In this long-form architectural screed in essay form, Wolfe takes aim at celebrated figures in the modernist movement—most notably Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier,…
- The Bonfire of the Vanities
novel · 1987
Sherman McCoy is a WASP, bond trader and self-appointed ‘Master of the Universe’. He has a fashionable wife, a Park Avenue apartment and a Southern mistress. His spectacular fall begins the moment he is involved in a hit-and-run accident…
- A Man in Full
novel · 1998
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…
- I Am Charlotte Simmons
novel · 2004
- Back to Blood
novel · 2012
As a police launch speeds across Miami's Biscayne Bay - with officer Nestor Camacho on board - Tom Wolfe is off and running. Into the feverous landscape of the city, he introduces the Cuban mayor, the black police chief, an ambitious…
- The Kingdom of Speech
nonfiction · 2016
The maestro storyteller and reporter provocatively argues that what we think we know about speech and human evolution is wrong. "A whooping, joy-filled and hyperbolic raid on, of all things, the theory of evolution." (Dwight Garner, New…
Essays and speeches (6)
- The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby
essay_collection · 1965
Tom Wolfe's debut collection of essays - a brilliant, form-bending dive into the future of America as it careened through the 1960s In 1965, Tom Wolfe dropped like a bomb onto the American literary scene with his first book, The…
- The Pump House Gang
essay_collection · 1968
Looking for new forms of status and power, the author travels from La Jolla to London in search of the 1960s subculture's wildest heroes. Reprint.
- Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers
essay_collection · 1970
Classic Wolfe, a funny, irreverent, and "delicious" (The Wall Street Journal) dissection of class and status by the master of New Journalism. "On the night of January 4, 1970, Maestro and Mrs. Leonard Bernstein threw a bash in their…
- Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine
essay_collection · 1976
- In Our Time
illustrated_essay_collection · 1980
Available for the first time in years, this classic collection of essays and drawings chronicles the shifting moral terrain of American through the 1980s.
- Hooking Up
essay_collection · 2000
A collection of magazine pieces by Tom Wolfe from the mid to late 20th century.
Edited works (1)
- The New Journalism
anthology · 1973
Frequently asked questions about Tom Wolfe
Who was Tom Wolfe?
Tom Wolfe was an American journalist, essayist, and novelist from Richmond, Virginia. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Washington and Lee University and a Ph.D. in American studies from Yale.
Was Tom Wolfe related to the novelist Thomas Wolfe?
No. Tom Wolfe used the shortened form of his name and was not related to the novelist Thomas Wolfe.
What was Tom Wolfe’s role in New Journalism?
He was a leading figure and one of the movement’s founders. Wolfe combined factual reporting with detailed description, extended dialogue, point of view, and social observation.
Sources: neh.gov (opens in a new tab)washingtonpost.com (opens in a new tab)
Who influenced Tom Wolfe’s writing?
At Washington and Lee, Wolfe was influenced by John Dos Passos and James T. Farrell. He later called Émile Zola his idol and credited sociologist Max Weber’s ideas about status with shaping his thinking.
Source: neh.gov (opens in a new tab)
What major awards did Tom Wolfe receive?
Wolfe won the 1980 National Book Award for General Nonfiction and received the National Humanities Medal in 2001. He was also a National Book Award finalist in 1972 and 1998.
Sources: nationalbook.org (opens in a new tab)neh.gov (opens in a new tab)