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The Wolfe Perspective - Rated
Tom Wolfe puts together a pastiche of journalistic articles about 1960's America, ranging from such esoterica as demolition derbies to the media-celebrity culture of New York. As always, Wolfe's style of Beat-Journalism cuts sharply to the point without resorting to overused clichés, describing such cultures in his own highly original style and capturing his view perfectly.

Some of his articles are about life in the grime of reality, and some seem to be almost a grotesque caricature of life in the celebrity set. However for me this was an excellent retrospect of 1960's culture, whether as a reflection of reality itself, or as a reflection of how certain popular cultural icons were perceived by the general public.

Wolfe's style and wit are to me, unsurpassed and I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the 1960's. Most complimentary of all, I would recommend this book to myself, for a second read sometime in the future.

A Tom Wolfe classic. - Rated
In a series of independant snap-shots of aspects of contemporary American culture in the 1960's, this snappily written book has something for everyone. It is a more interesting read now than when it was first published.

The title piece covers the custom car genre and contains first-hand accounts of encounters with some of the great characters of the time such as Ed Roth and George Barris. Also of interest to car enthusiasts is the chapter on "The last American Hero", with extraordinary tales of Junior Johnson the NASCAR race driver, and his formative days racing the police whilst running moonshine from the illicit stills in the hills.

Similar pieces cover the modern art scene, fashion, and numerous off-beat facets of New York life.

Highly entertaining - highly recommended.