{"product_id":"the-pump-house-gang-9781250891334","title":"The Pump House Gang","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA sprawling collection of essays about the subcultures of the 1960s by Tom Wolfe, the revolutionary journalist and novelist\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen Tom Wolfe smashed his way onto the literary scene in 1965 with \u003ci\u003eThe Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby\u003c\/i\u003e, he transformed reporting in American popular culture. For his next project, Wolfe traveled from La Jolla to London in search of new lifestyles. The result is \u003ci\u003eThe Pump House Gang\u003c\/i\u003e (published simultaneously with \u003ci\u003eThe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test\u003c\/i\u003e in 1968): a collection of essays that chronicles life at the end of the 1960s, written with all the panache and perceptiveness that made Wolfe one of our greatest American journalists. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRunning throughout \u003ci\u003eThe Pump House Gang \u003c\/i\u003eis a central theme of Wolfe's writing: status. In pieces about Hugh Hefner, Natalie Wood, and a gang of affluent teenage surfers, among others, Wolfe discusses the 1960s phenomenon of retreating from conventional social hierarchies, which he calls \"starting your own league.\" Dancers, motorcyclists, lumpen-dandies, and stay-at-homes--everybody's doing it. Except for die-hards in the crumbling old social worlds of New York and London, where the confusion is so great that nobody can tell whether this is really the path to the top they've taken or just the service elevator. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDazzlingly brilliant as a stylist, daringly provocative as a commentator, and always entertaining, in \u003ci\u003eThe Pump House Gang\u003c\/i\u003e, Wolfe is thoroughly, completely himself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTom Wolfe\u003c\/b\u003e (1930-2018) was one of the founders of the New Journalism movement and the author of contemporary classics like \u003ci\u003eThe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Right Stuff\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eRadical Chic \u0026amp; Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as the novels \u003ci\u003eThe Bonfire of the Vanities\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eA Man in Full\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eI Am Charlotte Simmons\u003c\/i\u003e. As a reporter, he wrote articles for \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eNew York Herald Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eEsquire\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eNew York\u003c\/i\u003e magazine, and is credited with coining the term \"The Me Decade.\" Among his many honors, Tom was awarded the National Book Award, the John Dos Passos Award, the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence, the National Humanities Medal, and National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lived in New York City.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"St. Martins Press-3PL","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50725726224658,"sku":"9781250891334","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_b6334ea9-4888-4f5a-ba7a-f8b9ff5e33a8.jpg?v=1737254909","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-pump-house-gang-9781250891334","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}