In Our Time

In Our Time by Tom Wolfe, 119 pages

In Our Time collects a number of sketches written or drawn by Tom Wolfe in the years leading up to 1980, with most of the drawings having appeared in the "In Our Time" feature in Harper's magazine.  Together, they present a portrait of America, and especially New York, that is as amusing as it is incisive.

For Wolfe, the hidden significance of the '70s was that it was the decade when the counterculture of the '60s became the culture.  If the '60s witnessed the rise of the young barbarians, the '70s saw their triumph.  Just as importantly, it was when they began, despite their own best efforts, to grow old.