Purple Decades

by Tom Wolfe

The Purple Decades brings together the author's own selections from his list of critically acclaimed publications, including the complete text of Mau-Mauing and the Flak Catchers, his account of the wild games the poverty program encouraged minority groups to play.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Journalism, History, Literature, Collections, Short Stories

396 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Wolfe was educated at Washington and Lee Universities and also at Yale, where he received a PhD in American studies.

Tom Wolfe spent his early days as a Washington Post beat reporter, where his free-association, onomatopoetic style would later become the trademark of New Journalism. In books such as The Electric Koolaid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, and The Bonfire of the Vanities, Wolfe delves into the inner workings of the mind, writing about the unconscious decisions people make in their lives. His attention to eccentricities of human behavior and language and to questions of social status are considered unparalleled in the American literary canon.


He is one of the founders of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

Tom Wolfe is also famous for coining and defining the term fiction-absolute .

http://us.macmillan.com/author/tomwolfe

Reviews

[Thomas Stroemquist · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being a massive fan of Wolfe's novels, I was surprised how little I cared for his early and defining works. There is some good writing among these essays (I won't go back and figure out which ones I thought was better than the rest though) but reading them in succession is a bit of a chore. The narrative is often exhaustingly hard trying to be witty, suave and intelligent and most of the time comes off as plump, condescending and wordy. Throw in a chunk of 60's psychedelia and I'm rolling my eyes in a way that makes it very hard to focus on the 'stories' that seem to be going nowhere in particular.

"The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby" and "Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers" that have been gathering dust on my bookshelf for years (titles having a lot to do with my hesitation) are now safely at my closest charity shop. If the selections from them in this volume are "the best" (by anyone's opinion) I've read more of them than I care for.

Some glimpses of what was to come and historical significance secured a second star, but the truth is that if you are really bursting to partake in this piece of history, a single essay is plenty.

[Ryan · Rating 1 out of 5]

A sample of Wolfe's essays. Smug, irritating, self-satisfied, and written in that cluttered 'style' of his that tries to mimic every noise in the spectrum and fails each time.

I don't understand why he ponced around dressed like a televangelist either.

[Julia Dawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Wolfe is the founder of a style called New Journalism, that has seen him writing in publications like Esquire and who knows what else. He has this supernatural ability of pegging American social groups and writes about them as a journalist/ethnographer. This book, a survey of his writing over several decades, changed the way I write.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some great essays in here: "The Last American Hero", for example. There are also some duds. This is Wolfe stroking his mammoth ego by showing how he knows everything about everything, from the New York art scene to the beginnings of NASCAR, from Jasper Johns to Junior Johnson.
Don't waste your time. Only 30% of it is any good.

[Forked Radish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved: "The Big Bang Theory ("creationism for nerds")"--Tom Wolfe came to realize the ugly truth viz. humans are just too stupid to be able to call any of their infantile ideas "science" i.e. knowledge.

[Doug Carpenter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though Tom Wolfe is undoubtedly an enthralling chronicler of American cultural history in the 1900's, this anthology is a slap shod collection of book chapters from which significantly more value could be taken from reading the original novels.

[Aaron Schlafly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Tom Wolfe, but I found this collection disjointed. It’s better to pick up one of his books instead.

[Alec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vastly interesting and poetically written.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few good essays. Style is arrogantly critical and entertaining. Gives a good feel for NY/some of American culture in the sixties and seventies.

[Zguba Salemenska · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good sampling of his work prior to moving into fiction.

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Old Favourites of New Journalism.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collects most of Wolfe's best essays from the 1960's and 1970's.

[Jason Farley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't believe I only paid $.50 for this much sheer pleasure and joy filled insightfulness. Great Stuff.

[E. Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too spicy for my palate.

[Rebekah Burgess Abramovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

10/06/2012