Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Book order (chronological)

As a police launch speeds across Miami’s Biscayne Bay – with officer Nestor Camacho on board – Tom Wolfe is off and running.

Briljante studieresultaten katapulteren de slimme, maar naïeve Charlotte Simmons vanuit een klein geïsoleerd stadje in de bergen van North Carolina naar de (fictieve) elite-universiteit Dupont, waar al haar normen en waarden grof worden gebruskeerd. Waar ze onverzadigbare intellectuele honger bij haar medestudenten verwachtte, treft ze slechts geile bronstigheid, liederlijke drankzucht en excessieve aandacht voor sport. Iedereen lijkt er alleen maar op uit daarmee te stijgen op de ranglijst van 'cool'-heid. Charlotte houdt dapper stand in deze poel des verderfs, totdat...

Een ambitieuze oudere zakenman in het Amerikaanse Atlanta wordt geconfronteerd met corruptie, racisme en andere problemen die het hem niet makkelijk maken aan de top.

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 in the Bronx. Prosecutors, newspaper hacks, politicians and clergy close in on him, determined to bring him down. The Bonfire of the Vanities is a caustic satire on the money-feverish Eighties. This exuberant novel cemented Wolfe's reputation as the foremost chronicler of his age.

Tom Wolfe began his exploration of American heroism during a time when such ideals seemed out of fashion, with the nation grappling with the fallout from Vietnam and the Iranian hostage crisis. His subjects, however, embodied a courage that captivated him, as he noted that in 1970, nearly one in four Navy pilots died in accidents. Wolfe's narrative reveals why these men were not just willing, but delighted to face such peril in an era marked by anti-heroism. Drawing from his roots in New Journalism, Wolfe employs a limited omniscient perspective, immersing readers in the lives of key figures in the space program. The story begins with the fears of a test pilot's wife before tracing back to the late 1940s and the first attempts to break the sound barrier. Test pilots, living dangerously both in the air and on the ground, are central to the narrative, with Chuck Yeager emerging as a pivotal figure determined to conquer Mach 1. The focus then shifts to the seven original astronauts, detailing Alan Shepard's suborbital flight and Gus Grissom's infamous mishap. Wolfe paints a vivid portrait of John Glenn's heroism and concludes with Yeager's later achievements, solidifying the narrative's epic scope and literary quality. This work stands out as the most engaging and insightful account of America's manned space program.