The Man in White: Tom Wolfe and the American Democratic Condition

FAIN: FT-55194-07

Carol Lynn McNamara
Utah State University (Logan, UT 84322-1400)

I have a contract with the University of Kentucky Press to write a book on Tom Wolfe for their series on political companions to American authors. Wolfe's novels, which lie somewhere in the tradition of great American writers between the satirical Mark Twain and the gritty Robert Penn Warren, tell us compelling stories that go beyond the particular circumstances of their characters to reveal something about the broader narrative of American life. I have already published two essays on Wolfe, and I plan to use the NEH Summer Stipend to complete the chapter titled "Race and Democracy in the Post Civil Rights Era." I have presented two papers on this subject at American Political Science Association meetings, and have written a substantial section of the chapter. I intend to produce two versions of this essay, one for publication as an essay and the other as a chapter in my book. (Edited by staff)