3.5

Now that the Internet[s] have wiped out our memories [being sarcastic, darlings, but not entirely] as the brain's capacity [Covid + Trump + Boogaloo Bois] has outstripped and done itself in, Tom Wolfe LUCKILY wrote it all down in the 80s and 90s and even before -- long ago in the 20th century. . . . . . This amazing book is a compilation of journalistic, rabidly fictional short stories and recollections. The very best is a novella, 'Ambush at Fort Bragg' . . . . . a 'must read' . . . . . and the inside of NYC's literati via the Hearld and New Yorker -- oy! fun! Highly recommend. I read on Kindle. . . . . worth the $11.00. On to another Wolfe masterpiece 'Back to Blood' . . . . set in Miami.

How do I describe this book? Let’s call it an experience. Wolfe, author of Bonfire of the Vanities, The Right Stuff, and numerous other books, offers here a collection of essays, a novella, and pieces he published in the New York Herald Tribune that raised great controversy back in the ‘60s. The essays look at how society has changed in his lifetime, tell the story behind some of the most powerful companies in Silicon Valley, look at the role of art in modern society, and other subjects, all at an intellectual levels that challenges me with my master’s degree. The novella, “Ambush at Fort Bragg,” is a gripping story of a TV news crew trying to get the soldiers who murdered a gay man to incriminate themselves on the air. The book ends with Wolfe’s Herald Tribune pieces parodying The New Yorker and its leader William Shawn. Back in the day, famous journalists called them libelous and imbecilic. Reading them so many years later, I find it hard to appreciate the whole thing because it all deals with a group of people and a time so far in the past. Overall, fans of Wolfe are bound to find something in this potpourri to appreciate. Non-fans or anyone hoping for a quick read won’t make it very far.

A book that was meant for the year 2000 that feels a bit inconsistent now. It still showcases Wolfe's wide range of stylistic abilities and his sharp wit, but it's definitely not one of his best.