[H]e could see the island of Manhattan off to the left. The towers were jammed together so tightly, he could feel the mass and stupendous weight.Just think of the millions, from all over the globe, who yearned to be on that island, in those towers, in those narrow streets! There it was, the Rome, the Paris, the London of the twentieth century, the city of ambition, the dense magnetic rock, the irresistible destination of all those who insist on being where things are happening-and he was among the victors!

Wolfe abandoned baseball and instead followed the example of his professor Marshall Fishwick by enrolling in Yale University's American Studies doctoral program. Among his models was William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair which described the society of 19th century England. The Post's city editor was "amazed that Wolfe preferred cityside to Capitol Hill the beat every reporter wanted.

Beginning his career as a reporter he soon became one of the most culturally significant figures of the sixties after the publication of books such as The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test a highly experimental account of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and his collections of articles and essays Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers and The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby. Thomas Kennerly "Tom" Wolfe Jr. His first novel The Bonfire of the Vanities released in 1987 was met with critical acclaim and was a great commercial success.