Preview
  • The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby

  • By: Tom Wolfe
  • Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
  • Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (41 ratings)

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The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby

By: Tom Wolfe
Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
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Publisher's summary

"An excellent book by a genius”, said Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., of this now-classic exploration of the 1960s from the founder of New Journalism and author of such influential works as The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and The Bonfire of the Vanities.

Tom Wolfe explores the style and culture of the 1960s in this dynamic collection of essays - originally stand-alone pieces, many of which were published in Esquire magazine - written in his unique, free-flowing style and his uncanny ability to call it like he sees it.

The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby takes a peek inside the then-rising world of custom cars, examines the life of professional NASCAR driver Junior Johnson, and offers an in-depth account of how Lyndon Johnson tried to copy JFK’s classic style. The work invites the listener inside the outrageous city Las Vegas was becoming, profiles intriguing pop-music figures, and explores a few bars The Beatles were known to frequent. Voiced by award-winning narrator Oliver Wyman, this book brings each character, and Wolfe, back to life.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©Thomas K. Wolfe, Jr.; New York Herald Tribune, Inc. (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
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Tom Wolfe

About the Author

Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Tom Wolfe is perhaps best known for his work as a trailblazer in the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and as the author of searing best-sellers such as The Bonfire of the Vanities. Originally a reporter, Wolfe worked in news for ten years, writing for publications including The New York Herald Tribune, Esquire, New York Magazine, and The Washington Post. In 1965, Wolfe published his first book, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, a collection of essays about the freewheeling 1960s, launching him into the public sphere as a whip-smart and madly inventive cultural critic. Several best-selling nonfiction publications followed, including The Right Stuff, The Pump House Gang, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, and Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers, works that introduced popular slang—including statusphere, the right stuff, The Me Decade, and good ol’ boy—into the English lexicon.

Wolfe released his first novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, in 1987 to much praise; the book remained on The New York Times best-seller list for over a year after its initial publication. Three of his books have been adapted into blockbuster films including The Last American Hero (1973), The Right Stuff (1983), and The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990). Wolfe was also the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the National Book Award, the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence, the National Humanities Medal, and the National Book Foundation’s 2010 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. A writer with a keen eye for style and all things sensational, Wolfe was known for not only his attention-grabbing writing but also his eye-catching fashion sense—he wore his trademark white suit for decades, donning his ivory tie and matching fedora no matter the season. He died in 2018 in New York City, leaving behind a legacy of deft, neon prose and razor-sharp satire.

Critic reviews

"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)

What listeners say about The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby

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Interesting story

an interesting look at the '50s and '60s through the eyes of a reporter.

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Tom Wolfe the Astute Observor

Very few writers have the social chops to gain access to circles high and low, and even fewer are keen enough to listen and process their stories and piece together the jigsaw puzzle of society. Somehow I had never read this title and was glad I did to see Wolfe in fine form reporting on the explosive 1960s.

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