Plot Summary

From a beat reporter at the Washington Post, to an overnight sensation as the leader of the New Journalism movement, Tom Wolfe was at the forefront of reshaping how American stories are told. Tom recognized the importance in overlooked micro-cultures and people, documenting everything from rural stock car drivers to hippies in Haight Ashbury to the Apollo Astronauts. Throughout his career, Tom fused a conservative upbringing in Virginia with a cultural antenna forged in Yale's American Studies PhD program to write some of the most memorable and culturally impactful stories of the 20th century such as The Right Stuff, The Bonfire of the Vanities and A Man in Full. Tom's ability to bridge cultural and class divides while tackling stories central to American Life was unique in fiction and non-fiction.