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The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby Paperback – November 24, 2009

by Tom Wolfe (Author)

4.2 245 ratings

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"An excellent book by a genius," said Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., of this now classic exploration of the 1960s from the founder of new journalism.

"This is a book that will be a sharp pleasure to reread years from now, when it will bring back, like a falcon in the sky of memory, a whole world that is currently jetting and jazzing its way somewhere or other."--Newsweek

In his first book, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby (1965) Wolfe introduces us to the sixties, to extravagant new styles of life that had nothing to do with the "elite" culture of the past.

Print length

368 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Picador
Publication date

November 24, 2009
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.81 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

0312429126
ISBN-13

978-0312429126
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Might well be required reading in courses with names like American studies.” ―Time Magazine

“I'm always rereading Tom Wolfe's The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby.” ―David Gates

“Tom Wolfe is a terrific writer.” ―The Washington Monthly

“Wolfe can do things with words and settings that few writers are capable of matching.” ―Tom Walker, The Denver Post

“The man's done the impossible. He--Yes!--understands America!” ―Houston Chronicle

“His eye and ear for detailed observation are incomparable; and observation is to the satirist what bullets are to a gun.” ―The Boston Sunday Globe

About the Author

Tom Wolfe (1930–2018) was one of the founders of the New Journalism movement and the author of contemporary classics like The Right Stuff and Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers, as well as the novels The Bonfire of the Vanities, A Man in Full, and I Am Charlotte Simmons. As a reporter, he wrote articles for The Washington Post, the New York Herald Tribune, Esquire, and New York 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.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Picador; First Edition (November 24, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0312429126
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0312429126
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.81 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #203,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #596 in Popular Culture in Social Sciences
- #663 in Essays (Books)
- #688 in Cultural Anthropology (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.2 245 ratings

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Tom Wolfe

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Tom Wolfe (1930-2018) was one of the founders of the New Journalism movement and the author of such contemporary classics as The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, and Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers, as well as the novels The Bonfire of the Vanities, A Man in Full, and I Am Charlotte Simmons. As a reporter, he wrote articles for The Washington Post, the New York Herald Tribune, Esquire, and New York 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 the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

A native of Richmond, Virginia, he earned his B.A. at Washington and Lee University, graduating cum laude, and a Ph.D. in American studies at Yale. He lived in New York City.

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4.2 out of 5

245 global ratings

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Amazon Customer

No ever will be able to cut, slice and dice the American psyche like Tom Wolfe

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2024

Verified Purchase

What more can be said about one of the best observers of the human condition than this author

Helpful

Educational and Entertaining

Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

Tom Wolfe is one of those writers who I learned a little bit about in journalism class in college but who I put off reading for decades. This was my loss, and I hope you don't follow in my footsteps. Start reading him now - and start with this anthology.

While Wolfe wasn't a sociologist, all of his writing contains lengthy passages containing minute, obsessive, clinical detail of his subjects' dress, hairstyles, social interactions and speech patterns. These alternate with some surprisingly folky attitude and some almost Byzantine-like complex passages (which can be very difficult to follow if you are not a native English speaker with an extensive SAT-level vocabulary). The essays included here are among the earliest of Wolfe's "New Journalism" style which, while nonfiction, are not too different from the style of his much later novels. Some of these essays age better than others (all were written in the early 1960s) as they almost universally focus on the pop culture of the day and some of that culture is now totally obscure to anyone who didn't live through it. You've probably realized that I regard this volume as a bit challenging to get through, but it's certainly worth it and is a very rewarding experience. (Wolfe did simplify matters considerably as his writing style evolved throughout this career).

The essays alternate in focus between low-brow culture (disk jockeys, hot rod culture, stock car racing, gossipy tabloid publishers) and high-brow culture (the modern art scene, high society socials). Wolfe's sympathies are almost always with low-brow culture, which sometimes (but not always) allies himself with teenagers, but mostly with working-class midwesterners and Southerners. His high-brow writing is more obviously satirical in tone, and he has little patience for the comedies of manners that passed for etiquitte among New York City's elite in the 1960s.

Most reviewers will single out "The Last American Hero" (an article about early NASCAR legend Junior Johnson) as the book's high point. While that is indeed what I would agree is the best-written article here, I think the true heart of the book is "Girl of the Year" which shows an intersection between the youth culture one would think would have Wolfe's sympathies, and the ritzy New York debutante culture that pops up in tabloids and fashion magazines before falling into obscurity. (It also has a hilarious, if unflattering, portrayal of the Rolling Stones).

Put in the effort to read this collection, and you will be rewarded with an increased vocabulary, a much better understanding of what early 1960s culture was like, and a great idea of where Tom Wolfe's later explorations would take him. This collection is a true treasure.

8 people found this helpful

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propertius

Here We Go Again, Hold On To Your Hats Middle America

Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2015

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Of course Mr. Wolfe has produced another lapidary exposition on American culture, but what is so refreshing is that there is no condescending in these pieces. Vegas, hot rods, etc. you name it and if it falls under Mr. Wolfe's scrutiny it will be treated, if not with respect, then with understanding. This book like all his works is about AMERICA as only TOM WOLFE can render it and the hell with that early Frenchman, well almost.

If Wolfe seems too keen on displaying his erudite at times almost encyclopedic literary and historical antecedents, it is only because he is and was trained to be that way. Unfortunately his critics on E 43 st in Manhattan will never get over this. But let us face he does write for the common in an uncommon fashion.

One person found this helpful

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Clinton

Some funny and insightful material here

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2018

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Some funny and insightful material here, but I found myself skimming. I like the later stuff--Bonfire of the Vanities, The Right Stuff, A Man in Full--better.

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2019

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Who better than author Tom Wolfe (yes, the "Bonfire" guy) to document the burgeoning 1960s counterculture? He turns routine articles into ironic-comic masterpieces worth reading a half-century on (has it really been that long?). His technique is central: a deft narrator's voice to send-up the manners and mores present at the dawn of the youth culture. All along, he was explaining low culture to the high-culture elites of the time.

5 people found this helpful

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Lowell L.

A genuine Time Capsule

Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2019

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Hanging out with Muhammad Ali BEFORE he fought Liston....with the guys who designed and built the kustom kars of My Misspent Youth....The plight of the young and rich in NYC...Great stuff.

One person found this helpful

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homebeforedaylight

Classic Wolfe...

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2013

Verified Purchase

If you're a Tom Wolfe fan, this is obviously a must-read. The uninitiated can use this as a fine example of New Journalism.
The strongest pieces are up front, specifically on Las Vegas and the beginnings of stock car racing and the title-piece on kustom car culture in Southern California.
The second half of the book lags a bit as most of the stories about the upper-crust of 1960s New York fall into the we-get-the-idea category. Upon modern reading, some of the material seems dated - winkle-picker boots, etc. - but charmingly so. This is a great snapshot of Wolfe and the send-up style that would come to define him.

2 people found this helpful

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jjlaw

The Ultimate Bathroom Book

Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2006

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This is a collection of short tales about contemporary New York and America written in the early 1960s. As you might expect, Wolfe is a little more rough around the edges here, and so there is a little hit and miss. However, The Last American Hero, about driver Junior Johnson and the early beginnings of NASCAR, is breathtaking - here are the true buds of Wolfe's ideas on American Masculinity that were to flower in The Right Stuff.

8 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

David Rodigan

First Class

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 25, 2021

Verified Purchase

Great book..a classic collection of his best writing.

dr george pollard

Remarkable book ...

Reviewed in Canada on September 30, 2018

Verified Purchase

Wolfe wrote essays for the ages. As great a read, today, as fifty years ago. dgp

Amazon Customer

Great book

Reviewed in Australia on January 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

Interesting, funny and a great writer. Will definitely read again and buy other books by the author.

Na Go

Perfect

Reviewed in Spain on February 19, 2016

Verified Purchase

The book was in perfect condition and they delivered it very fast, I really trust them with the international deliveries, and I get many books from them.

Vladimir Cekota

Kandy Koloured Tangerine Flake Streamline Baby

Reviewed in Canada on January 28, 2013

Verified Purchase

After all these years, Kandy holds up remarkably well. Even though some of the people are gone and the events he writes about are now distant past,it doesn't really matter because the observations remain lucid and spot on. He holds up a mirror to the society snobs and celebrities but you also get the full picture of the times with interviews with pioneers of then emerging trends, from car culture to music recording. My favourite are the observations of the doormen who park cars for the Manhattan elites. This is not the official spoon fed version or the pc activist tripe you get these days from the dimwits writing for the NYT opinion section or the New Yorker... the man has never sold out...check out his latest novel about Miami... Back to Blood. I'm hoping he'll take on Al (Jazeera) Gore next.

3 people found this helpful

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