Reissued with an original introduction by David Brooks, Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers is classic Tom Wolfe, a funny, irreverent, and "delicious" ( The Wall Street Journal ) dissection of class and status by the master of New Journalism. Tom Wolfe's two-act dissection of 1970s race relations in America is incisive and thought-provoking, an indispensable study in how elite white pieties have often worked against the welfare of Black communities in the country. Wolfe first takes readers back to his ...
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Reissued with an original introduction by David Brooks, Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers is classic Tom Wolfe, a funny, irreverent, and "delicious" ( The Wall Street Journal ) dissection of class and status by the master of New Journalism. Tom Wolfe's two-act dissection of 1970s race relations in America is incisive and thought-provoking, an indispensable study in how elite white pieties have often worked against the welfare of Black communities in the country. Wolfe first takes readers back to his original scene of 1970s "radical chic" the party for the Black Panthers that Leonard Bernstein and his wife, Felicia, hosted at their Park Avenue penthouse. Wolfe's unerring eye for the uncanny feasts on an improbable scene that would morph into today's cocktail activism--well-heeled elites signifying their sympathy with causes related to Black emancipation through social hobnobbing. Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers , meanwhile, unfolds on the other side of the country, in San Francisco's Office of Economic Opportunity, where Wolfe details with Kafkaesque absurdity the dysfunction, chaos, and corruption that waylays this outgrowth of the War on Poverty so that it inevitably ends up failing the underserved communities it's supposed to help.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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Good. Paperback binding. Published October 1971 (1st Bantam edition). We have 75, 000 books to choose from--Ship within 24 hours--Satisfaction Guaranteed!
Normally that would be enough, but a long time has passed and many may never have heard of him. This is a good introduction.
It all takes place in '60's San Francisco and New York. It is the text that Leonard Bernstein never recovered from.
The second part, about the San Francisco mau-mau, is one of the more hilarious accounts you'll ever come across. It nails at once the SF Liberal, Bureaucrat, and Radical. Fools all.
I know, because I was "present at the creation."
Wolfe doesn't bang on pipes, he merely does what he always does - describe the situation. If anything, his "new journalism" style does the work of pinning tails on these donkeys.
I always envy those who are just discovering Tom Wolfe. I can re-savor, but it's just not the same as that first astounding blast of foot-stomping, joyous prose.
