Happy 85th Birthday Tom Wolfe!!!

Tom Wolfe, in his trademark white suit, 2015.

It’s author Tom Wolfe’s 85^th birthday today! I’ve been on a Tom Wolfe kick lately, and over the last few months I’ve reviewed his books From Bauhaus to Our House, Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine, and The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine Flake Streamline Baby. (I just finished reading The Bonfire of the Vanities; look for that review coming soon.) I also reviewed the excellent collection Conversations with Tom Wolfe, and I wrote a short piece about Donald Trump in Tom Wolfe’s style. 

Wolfe is one of the most important and influential American authors of the last 50 years, and he’s written on a wide range of different subjects. Wolfe turned his talents towards fiction in the 1980’s, and since then he’s focused less on non-fiction, but Wolfe does have a new non-fiction book coming out in August of 2016. It’s called The Kingdom of Speech, and according to the description, Wolfe argues that speech, rather than evolution, “is responsible for humanity’s complex societies and achievements.” It should be an interesting read, and it’s proof that even at age 85, Wolfe is still the curious observer, with notebook in hand, ready to tell us all about something new.