Free Republic

Long before the rest of us were talking about blue and red America, Tom Wolfe not only recognized the cultural divide; he bridged it. When he began his career in the 1960s, the liberal establishment was more dominant and even smugger than it is today. There were no pesky voices on cable television or the web to challenge the Eastern elites’ hold on the national media. Then along came Wolfe, a lone voice celebrating the hinterland’s culture, mercilessly skewering the pretensions and dogmas of New York’s intelligentsia—and somehow triumphing. How did he get away with it? The most entertaining analysis...

This is an excerpt from former Timesman, Gay Talese's, book on the NY Times, The Kingdom and the Power. --SNIP-- The positive response to his magazine and book forays helped Talese finally break with "The New York Times" in mid-1965 and leave newspaper writing forever. Ultimately, the break came over a column. As noted earlier, in 1958 Talese had written substitute "About New York" columns for the "Times'" Meyer Berger. When Berger died in 1959, Talese was his natural successor, a fact "New York/New York" and "New York-A Serendipiter's Journey" more than confirmed in 1960 and 1961. The owner of...