99-601: The Wilkes County Regiment was authorized on December 9, 1777 by the Province of North Carolina Congress at the same time that Wilkes County, North Carolina was created from Surry County, North Carolina and Washington District, North Carolina . The regiment was subordinate to the Salisbury District Brigade of militia. It was engaged in battles and skirmishes against the British and Cherokee during
198-648: A Bad Sex in Fiction Award from the London-based Literary Review , a prize established "to draw attention to the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel". Wolfe later explained that such sexual references were deliberately clinical. Wolfe wrote that his goal in writing fiction was to document contemporary society in the tradition of Charles Dickens , Émile Zola , and John Steinbeck . Wolfe announced in early 2008 that he
297-524: A council–manager government format with a five-member board of commissioners and county manager . The current county manager is John Yates. As of 2024, the current commissioners are: Casey Joe Johnson (chairman), Bill Sexton (vice chairman), Giddeon Keith Elmore, Stoney Greene, and Greg Minton. Wilkes County is a member of the regional High Country Council of Governments . In the North Carolina General Assembly , Wilkes
396-632: A fault runs through the Brushy Mountains , and mild earth tremors are not uncommon. On August 31, 1861, an earthquake estimated at 5.0 on the Richter magnitude scale hit the southern part of the county and caused minor damage. Wilkes County is home to several NC and US highways, as well as an airport and public transportation. Wilkes is also one of 27 North Carolina counties in which the Blue Ridge Parkway runs through. As of
495-433: A collection of his articles in this style, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby , adding to his notability. He published a second collection of articles, The Pump House Gang , in 1968. Wolfe wrote on popular culture, architecture, politics, and other topics that underscored, among other things, how American life in the 1960s had been transformed by post-WWII economic prosperity. His defining work from this era
594-742: A collection of his writings from the Herald-Tribune , Esquire , and other publications. This was what Wolfe called New Journalism , in which some journalists and essayists experimented with a variety of literary techniques , mixing them with the traditional ideal of dispassionate, even-handed reporting. Wolfe experimented with four literary devices not normally associated with feature writing: scene-by-scene construction, extensive dialogue, multiple points of view, and detailed description of individuals' status-life symbols (the material choices people make) in writing this stylized form of journalism. He later referred to this style as literary journalism. Of
693-533: A conservative by The New Yorker , Vanity Fair , The Washington Post , National Review , and USA Today . Editor Byron Dobell labelled Wolfe a reactionary ; while a member of the Black Panther Party called him a racist, due to his portrayal of the party in Radical Chic . Wolfe rejected such labels, saying "If I have been judged to be right wing , I think this is because of
792-641: A daughter, Alexandra; and a son, Thomas Kennerly III. Wolfe died from an infection in Manhattan on May 14, 2018, at the age of 88. The historian Meredith Hindley credits Wolfe with introducing the terms "statusphere", "the right stuff", " radical chic ", " the Me Decade " and "good ol' boy" into the English lexicon . Wolfe was at times incorrectly credited with coining the term " trophy wife ". His term for extremely thin women in his novel The Bonfire of
891-481: A female householder with no husband present, and 30.60% were non-families. Of all households, 26.69% were made up of individuals, and 11.59% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 2.89. In the county, the population breakdown by age is: 22.41% under the age of 18, 7.16% from 18 to 24, 23.96% from 25 to 44, 29.49% from 45 to 64, and 16.99% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age
990-403: A large shopping center built in the 1970s, was, starting in 2000, transformed into a large medical park with numerous offices for physicians, medical specialists, pharmacies, physical therapists, and other medical and health-related fields. Wilkes County has strong musical roots, and those roots are displayed at: It hosts the annual Shine to Wine Festival , in downtown North Wilkesboro. Held on
1089-502: A modest aspirant form." Irving was perhaps the most dismissive, saying "It's like reading a bad newspaper or a bad piece in a magazine ... read sentences and watch yourself gag." Wolfe responded, saying, "It's a tantrum. It's a wonderful tantrum. A Man in Full panicked Irving the same way it panicked Updike and Norman. Frightened them. Panicked them." He later called Updike and Mailer "two old piles of bones" and said again that Irving
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#17327869281971188-637: A more complex set of relationships wherein the journalist becomes an involved, more fully reactive witness, no longer distanced and detached from the people and events reported." Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is considered a striking example of New Journalism. This account of the Merry Pranksters , a famous sixties counter-culture group, was highly experimental in Wolfe's use of onomatopoeia , free association , and eccentric punctuation—such as multiple exclamation marks and italics—to convey
1287-546: A new installment in each biweekly issue of Rolling Stone . Later Wolfe was unhappy with his "very public first draft" and thoroughly revised his work, even changing his protagonist, Sherman McCoy. Wolfe had originally made him a writer, but recast him as a bond salesman. Wolfe researched and revised for two years, and his The Bonfire of the Vanities was published in 1987. The book was a commercial and critical success, spending weeks on bestseller lists and earning praise from
1386-660: A position with the New York Herald Tribune as a general assignment reporter and feature writer. The editors of the Herald Tribune , including Clay Felker of the Sunday section supplement New York magazine, encouraged their writers to break the conventions of newspaper writing. Wolfe attracted attention in 1963 when, three months before the JFK assassination , he published an article on George Ohsawa and
1485-712: A reduction of over 53%. From 2000 to 2014, the median household income in Wilkes declined by over 30%. However, from 2014 to 2017 the median household income increased by nearly 22%, and in 2017 Wilkes was ranked 47th out of 100 counties for "economic distress" by the North Carolina Department of Commerce. Wilkes County is part of the Yadkin Valley AVA , an American Viticultural Area . Wines made from grapes grown in Wilkes County may use
1584-473: A regional newspaper reporter in the 1950s, achieving national prominence in the 1960s following the publication of such best-selling books as The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (an account of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters ) and two collections of articles and essays, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby and Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers . In 1979, he published
1683-661: A sellout crowd at the Speedway, Kyle Larson won the race. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series also held a race at the Speedway on May 20, 2023; it was also won by Kyle Larson . In November 2023 NASCAR announced that the 2024 NASCAR All-Star Race would also be held at the North Wilkesboro Speedway in May 2024. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 756.33 square miles (1,958.9 km ), of which 753.68 square miles (1,952.0 km )
1782-498: A significant number of Methodist , Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and non-denominational Evangelical Protestant congregations. Historically, few Roman Catholics lived in Wilkes, but recent immigration from other U.S. States and especially by people of Hispanic descent has increased their numbers. Wilkes County has a single Catholic parish, Saint John Baptist de LaSalle Catholic Church in North Wilkesboro, which serves all
1881-584: A subjective style. Upon leaving Yale, he wrote a friend, explaining through expletives his personal opinions about his thesis. Though Wolfe was offered teaching jobs in academia, he opted to work as a reporter. In 1956, while still preparing his thesis, Wolfe became a reporter for the Springfield Union in Springfield, Massachusetts . Wolfe finished his thesis in 1957. In 1959, he was hired by The Washington Post . Wolfe has said that part of
1980-538: A tryout with the New York Giants , but was cut after three days, which he blamed on his inability to throw good fastballs. Wolfe abandoned baseball and instead followed his professor Fishwick's example, enrolling in Yale University 's American studies doctoral program. His Ph.D. thesis was titled The League of American Writers: Communist Organizational Activity Among American Writers, 1929–1942. In
2079-427: A vastly adequate social satirist". Novelist Louis Auchincloss praised Wolfe, describing The Bonfire of the Vanities as "a marvelous book". Critic James Wood disparaged Wolfe's "big subjects, big people, and yards of flapping exaggeration. No one of average size emerges from his shop; in fact, no real human variety can be found in his fiction, because everyone has the same enormous excitability." In 2000, Wolfe
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#17327869281972178-434: Is The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (published the same day as The Pump House Gang in 1968), which for many epitomized the 1960s. Although a conservative in many ways (in 2008, he claimed never to have used LSD and to have tried marijuana only once ), Wolfe became one of the notable figures of the decade. In 1970, he published two essays in book form as Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers . "Radical Chic"
2277-773: Is Wilkes Community College (WCC), a public two-year college within the North Carolina Community College System . Wilkes County is served by the Appalachian Regional Library. Wilkes County has two local newspapers: The county has three radio stations: Most of the county can pick up the Television Stations broadcasting from Winston-Salem Wilkes County is also home to GoWilkes.com , an internet media source that allows residents to discuss current events and local happenings in real time. GoWilkes.com
2376-483: Is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina . It is a part of the state's western mountain region . As of the 2020 census the population was 65,969. Its county seat is Wilkesboro , and its largest community is North Wilkesboro . Wilkes County comprises the North Wilkesboro, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area . The county was formed from parts of Surry County and Washington District (now Washington County, Tennessee ) on April 20, 1778, by an act of
2475-476: Is especially prone to devastating flash floods . The two most memorable floods occurred in 1916 and 1940, killing a number of residents and causing millions of dollars in damages. After the opening of the W. Kerr Scott Dam in 1962, the Yadkin River did not flood again in Wilkes County until heavy rainfalls from Hurricane Helene led to flooding in 2024. Although Wilkes County has never had a severe earthquake,
2574-585: Is land and 2.65 square miles (6.9 km ) (0.35%) is water. Wilkes County is located on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains , a part of the Appalachian Mountains chain. The county's elevation ranges from 900 feet (270 meters) in the east to over 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) in the west. The Blue Ridge Mountains run from the southwest to the northeast, and dominate the county's western and northern horizons. Tomkins Knob ,
2673-875: Is one of the largest single-day arts and crafts fairs in the Southern United States. Carolina in the Fall is another music festival each September in the Historic Downtown Wilkesboro and is hosted by the Heart of Folk and the Kruger Brothers. The festival and venue won an award at the IBMA and features music, wine and beer garden and food truck competition. It continues to grow in popularity. The Carolina West Wireless Community Commons and Wilkes Communications Pavilion has "Concerts on
2772-611: Is one of the most popular state parks in North Carolina, and is noted for its excellent rock climbing and trout fishing. The Brushy Mountains , an isolated spur of the Blue Ridge, form the county's southern border. Wilkes County's terrain gradually becomes more level and less hilly as one moves to the east; the far eastern section of the county lies within the Piedmont region of North Carolina. The largest river in Wilkes
2871-760: Is only one charter school in Wilkes County: Bridges Charter School in State Road, North Carolina . The Elkin City Schools district also covers parts of Wilkes. Wilkes County has three private schools, all three are associated with one of the larger Protestant Christian churches in the county. The largest private school in Wilkes is Millers Creek Christian School . In recent years, the number of students being home schooled in Wilkes has steadily increased, while public school enrollment has decreased. The only college in Wilkes
2970-837: Is represented by Eddie Settle in North Carolina Senate 's 36th district , and by Sarah Stevens in the 90th district and Jeffery Elmore in the 94th district of the North Carolina House of Representatives . In the US Senate , the county is represented by Ted Budd and Thom Tillis . Wilkes is entirely in North Carolina's 5th congressional district of the United States House of Representatives , represented by Virginia Foxx . Wilkes County's economic struggles since 2000, and
3069-642: Is the Yadkin River , which flows through the central part of the county. The county's three other major streams, all of which flow into the Yadkin, are the Reddies River , Roaring River , and Mulberry Creek. Following the devastating floods of 1916 and 1940, the US Army's Corps of Engineers constructed the W. Kerr Scott Dam and Reservoir on the Yadkin River four miles west of Wilkesboro. Opened in 1962,
Wilkes County Regiment - Misplaced Pages Continue
3168-565: Is the largest employer in Wilkes. Like many rural areas in North Carolina, Wilkes County has suffered since 2000 from the closing of nearly all of its textile and furniture factories, which formed a major part of its economic base. Most of these factories have moved to low-wage locations in Latin America and Asia, especially China and Vietnam. According to Stateline , the number of Wilkes County residents employed in manufacturing dropped from 8,548 in 2000 to approximately 4,000 as of 2015,
3267-432: The 2020 census , there were 65,969 people, 28,376 households, and 17,409 families residing in the county. At the 2010 census , there were 69,340 people, 28,360 households, and 19,683 families residing in the county. The population density was 91.91 people per square mile (35.49 people/km ). There were 33,065 housing units at an average density of 43.84 units per square mile (16.93 units/km ). The racial makeup of
3366-569: The American Revolution in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia between 1779 and 1782. It was active until the end of the war. The colonels and commanders of the regiment were: Known Lieutenant Colonels and Majors: The regiment had 78 known companies headed by captains. Companies consisted of lieutenants, ensigns, sergeants, corporals, privates, drummers and fifers. Notables captains and other troops included: Wilkes County, North Carolina Wilkes County
3465-514: The Iraq War . In a 2004 interview in The Guardian , he said that his "idol" in writing about society and culture is Émile Zola . Wolfe described Zola as "a man of the left", one who "went out, and found a lot of ambitious, drunk, slothful and mean people out there. Zola simply could not—and was not interested in—telling a lie." Despite his mostly conservative views, Wolfe also criticized
3564-575: The North Carolina General Assembly of 1778 . The first session of the county court was held in John Brown's house near what is today Brown's Ford. The act creating the county became effective on February 15, 1778, and the county celebrates its anniversary on February 15. Wilkes County was named for the English political radical John Wilkes , who was Lord Mayor of the City of London and gave support for
3663-798: The appellation Yadkin Valley on their labels. With the decline of tobacco farming, some Wilkes County farmers have switched to wine-making, and have hired experts from Europe and California for assistance. As a result, wine-making is growing in popularity in both Wilkes and surrounding counties. In May of each year, Wilkes county celebrates the new wine industry with the Shine to Wine Festival , held in downtown North Wilkesboro. The Wilkes County Schools system has 22 schools ranging from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade , including an early college high school . Those 22 schools are separated into 5 high schools , 4 middle schools and 13 elementary schools . There
3762-406: The sanpaku condition foretelling death. During the 1962–63 New York City newspaper strike , Wolfe approached Esquire magazine about an article on the hot rod and custom car culture of southern California . He struggled with the article until his editor, Byron Dobell , suggested that Wolfe send him his notes so they could piece the story together. Wolfe procrastinated. The evening before
3861-722: The 1930s, was for many years the largest mirror factory in America. Today Gardner Glass Products Inc. still produces mirrors in North Wilkesboro. Holly Farms, in Wilkesboro, was the largest poultry producer in the Southeastern United States until it was bought by Tyson Foods in 1989. Wilkes County remains one of the largest producers of poultry in the Eastern United States, and many of the county's farmers are poultry farmers for Tyson Foods. Tyson
3960-552: The Catholics of Wilkes County. In contrast, relatively few Jews or members of other non-Christian faiths have settled in the county. Since the American Civil War , Wilkes County has been heavily Republican, owing to its strong Unionist sentiment during the war, which partly stemmed from its rocky and infertile soil unsuited for plantation farming. The last Democratic presidential candidate to carry Wilkes County
4059-628: The Commons," a live music concert series held from May through October annually. In 1988 legendary, Grammy -winning folk music guitarist Doc Watson and Bill Young started the Doc Watson Festival (later renamed the MerleFest music festival) in Wilkesboro. Held on the campus of Wilkes Community College, and named in honor of Doc's late son Merle Watson, MerleFest has grown into one of the largest folk and bluegrass music festivals in
Wilkes County Regiment - Misplaced Pages Continue
4158-783: The Third Great Awakening . In 1979, Wolfe published The Right Stuff , an account of the pilots who became America's first astronauts . Following their training and unofficial, even foolhardy, exploits, he likened these heroes to " single combat warriors" of a bygone era, going forth to battle in the Space Race on behalf of their country. In 1983, the book was adapted into an Academy Award -winning feature film . Wolfe also wrote two critiques of and social histories of modern art and modern architecture , The Painted Word and From Bauhaus to Our House , published in 1975 and 1981, respectively. The Painted Word mocked
4257-533: The United States, drawing an average of over 75,000 music fans each year. The festival has become the main fundraiser for the college, and brings over $ 10 million in estimated business and tourist revenues to Wilkes County and surrounding areas each year. Wilkes County native Tom Dula (Dooley), a Confederate veteran of the American Civil War who was tried and hanged shortly after the war for
4356-429: The altitude. Wilkesboro, the county seat , receives an average of 50 inches of rain per year and an average of 10 inches of snow. Severe weather is not common in Wilkes but does occur. Tornadoes are rare, but severe thunderstorms can bring strong winds which can down trees and power lines, as well as cause hail . On October 23, 2017, a rare EF 1 tornado touched down in the community of Moravian Falls, before moving into
4455-495: The birthplace of numerous large industries. Lowe's , the second-largest chain of home-improvement stores in the nation (after The Home Depot ) was started in Wilkes County in 1946. Until 2003, Lowe's had its corporate headquarters in Wilkes County, but the company has since relocated most of its corporate functions to Mooresville, North Carolina , a fast-growing suburb of Charlotte . However, Lowe's large office in Wilkesboro still houses many corporate departments, and Lowe's remains
4554-675: The colonists during the American Revolution. In 1799, the northern and western parts of Wilkes County became Ashe County . In 1841, parts of Wilkes County and Burke County were combined to form Caldwell County . In 1847, another part of Wilkes County was combined with parts of Caldwell County and Iredell County to become Alexander County . In 1849, additional parts of Wilkes County and Caldwell County were combined with parts of Ashe County and Yancey County to form Watauga County . Numerous boundary adjustments were made thereafter, but none resulted in new counties. Wilkes County
4653-425: The county became one of the birthplaces of the sport of stock-car racing . The North Wilkesboro Speedway was the first NASCAR (National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing) track; it held its first race on May 18, 1947, and the first NASCAR-sanctioned race on October 16, 1949. Wilkes County native and resident Junior Johnson was one of the early superstars of NASCAR, as well as a legendary moonshiner. Johnson
4752-413: The county was 90.60% White or European American, 4.08% African American, 0.19% Native American, 0.43% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 3.33% from other races, and 1.33% from two or more races. Of all races, 5.44% of the population were Hispanic or Latino. There were 28,360 households, out of which 26.76% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.03% were married couples living together, 10.50% had
4851-415: The county's eastern section, while at the same time it is snowing or sleeting with the temperature below freezing in the county's mountainous north, west, and south. Generally speaking, Wilkes receives ample amounts of precipitation, with frequent thunderstorms in the spring and summer months; and rain, snow, sleet , and freezing rain all occur at times during the winter, with the frequency increasing with
4950-534: The county's second-largest employer. A telecommunications firm, Carolina West Wireless, was started in Wilkesboro in 1991 and is also headquartered in the county. Other industries which started in Wilkes County are Lowes Foods (now headquartered in Winston-Salem ) and The Northwestern Bank, which was once North Carolina's fourth-largest banking chain until it was merged with First Union Bank in 1986. The Carolina Mirror Company in North Wilkesboro, founded in
5049-404: The county's strong support for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election and after, has led to Wilkes being prominently featured in numerous stories and articles by national news media outlets such as The New York Times , NBC News , PBS NewsHour , U.S. News & World Report , and MSNBC . Despite its rural character and relatively small population, Wilkes County has been
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#17327869281975148-404: The course of his research, Wolfe interviewed Malcolm Cowley , Archibald MacLeish , and James T. Farrell . A biographer remarked on the thesis: "Reading it, one sees what has been the most baleful influence of graduate education on many who have suffered through it: It deadens all sense of style." Originally rejected, his thesis was finally accepted after he rewrote it in an objective rather than
5247-411: The dam created a lake with a shoreline of 56 miles. The lake is used for boating, swimming, fishing, and waterskiing ; it is especially noted for its excellent bass fishing . The W. Kerr Scott lake is the largest body of water in Wilkes. Due to its wide range of elevation, Wilkes County's climate varies considerably. In winter, it is not unusual for it to be sunny with the temperature in the forties in
5346-553: The deadline, he typed a letter to Dobell explaining what he wanted to say on the subject, ignoring all journalistic conventions. Dobell's response was to remove the salutation "Dear Byron" from the top of the letter and publish it intact as reportage. The result, published in 1963, was "There Goes (Varoom! Varoom!) That Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby." The article was widely discussed—loved by some, hated by others. Its notoriety helped Wolfe gain publication of his first book, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby ,
5445-406: The decline of a poor, bright scholarship student from Alleghany County, North Carolina, after attending an elite university. He conveys an institution filled with snobbery, materialism, anti-intellectualism, and sexual promiscuity. The novel met with a mostly tepid response by critics. Many social conservatives praised it in the belief that its portrayal revealed widespread moral decline. The novel won
5544-460: The excessive insularity of the art world and its dependence on what he saw as faddish critical theory. In From Bauhaus to Our House he explored what he said were the negative effects of the Bauhaus style on the evolution of modern architecture. In 2016, Wolfe published The Kingdom of Speech , a critique of the work of Charles Darwin and Noam Chomsky . Wolfe synthesized what he construed as
5643-706: The first Saturday of May, the Shine to Wine festival pays tribute to the county's heritage of growing from the Moonshine Capital of the World to what is now recognized as a strong viticultural industry. Wilkes County is also home to the annual Brushy Mountain Apple Festival , which is held in downtown North Wilkesboro the first weekend in October. The festival, which attracts over 160,000 visitors each year,
5742-405: The fray. The novel was selected to be adapted into a television series by Netflix in 2021. In 2001, Wolfe published an essay referring to his three main literary critics as "My Three Stooges." That year he also published Hooking Up (a collection of short pieces, including the 1997 novella Ambush at Fort Bragg ). He published his third novel, I Am Charlotte Simmons (2004), chronicling
5841-458: The highest point in the county, rises to 4,079 feet (1,243 meters). The Blue Ridge Parkway runs along the crest of the Blue Ridge on the county's northern and western borders. The foothills and valleys of the Blue Ridge form most of the county's midsection, with some elevations exceeding 2,000 feet (610 meters). Stone Mountain State Park , located in the foothills of northern Wilkes County,
5940-517: The homicide squad in The Bronx . While the research came easily, he encountered difficulty in writing. To overcome his writer's block, Wolfe wrote to Jann Wenner , editor of Rolling Stone , to propose an idea drawn from Charles Dickens and Thackeray: to serialize his novel. Wenner offered Wolfe around $ 200,000 to serialize his work. The frequent deadline pressure gave him the motivation he had sought, and from July 1984 to August 1985, he published
6039-401: The human future but because he makes us share the enthusiasm with which he perceives the actual." Critic Dwight Garner praised Wolfe as "a brilliantly gifted social observer and satirist" who "made a fetish of close and often comically slashing detail" and was "unafraid of kicking up at the pretensions of the literary establishment." Harold Bloom described Wolfe as "a fierce storyteller, and
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#17327869281976138-492: The influential book The Right Stuff about the Mercury Seven astronauts, which was made into a 1983 film of the same name directed by Philip Kaufman . His first novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities , published in 1987, was met with critical acclaim and also became a commercial success. Its adaptation as a motion picture of the same name, directed by Brian De Palma , was a critical and commercial failure. Wolfe
6237-517: The manic ideas and personalities of Ken Kesey and his followers. In addition to his own work, Wolfe edited a collection of New Journalism with E. W. Johnson, published in 1973 and titled The New Journalism . This book published pieces by Truman Capote , Hunter S. Thompson , Norman Mailer , Gay Talese , Joan Didion , and several other well-known writers, with the common theme of journalism that incorporated literary techniques and which could be considered literature. In 1965, Wolfe published
6336-510: The movie as himself. Throughout his early career, Wolfe had planned to write a novel to capture the wide reach of American society. Among his models was William Makepeace Thackeray 's Vanity Fair , which described the society of 19th-century England. In 1981, he ceased his other work to concentrate on the novel. Wolfe began researching the novel by observing cases at the Manhattan Criminal Court and shadowing members of
6435-479: The murder of his fiancée, Laura Foster. To this day many people believe that one of Dula's jealous ex-girlfriends murdered Laura Foster, that Dula was innocent of the crime, and that he accepted blame only to protect his former lover. The case was given nationwide publicity by newspapers such as The New York Times and the New York Herald , and thus became a folk legend in the rural South. Dula's legend
6534-569: The people he observed, making him, in their eyes, "a man from Mars, the man who didn't know anything and was eager to know." In 1989, Wolfe wrote an essay for Harper's Magazine , titled " Stalking the Billion-Footed Beast ". It criticized modern American novelists for failing to engage fully with their subjects, and suggested that modern literature could be saved by a greater reliance on journalistic technique. Asked to comment by The Wall Street Journal on blogs in 2007 to mark
6633-448: The people you are writing about for long stretches ... long enough so that you are actually there when revealing scenes take place in their lives." Saturation reporting differs from "in-depth" and "investigative" reporting, which involve the direct interviewing of numerous sources and/or the extensive analyzing of external documents relating to the story. Saturation reporting, according to communication professor Richard Kallan, "entails
6732-447: The political right. In 2004, Wolfe noted his support for political correctness , which he described as "a good effect because it is now bad manners to use racial epithets." However, in 2017, he attacked political correctness, mocking it as perpetual outrage. In 2016, Wolfe described Donald Trump as a "lovable megalomaniac...The childishness makes him seem honest." Wolfe later compared Trump to literary character Jay Gatsby . Wolfe
6831-611: The poverty line, including 32.60% of those under age 18 and 13.40% of those age 65 or over. Since colonial times Wilkes County has been overwhelmingly Protestant Christian. The two earliest churches to be established in Wilkes were the Episcopalian and Presbyterian . However, by the 1850s the Southern Baptists had eclipsed them, and the Baptists have remained the dominant church in Wilkes. The county also contains
6930-466: The reason he was hired by the Post was his lack of interest in politics. The Post's city editor was "amazed that Wolfe preferred cityside to Capitol Hill , the beat every reporter wanted." He won an award from The Newspaper Guild for foreign reporting in Cuba in 1961 and also won the Guild's award for humor. While there, Wolfe experimented with fiction-writing techniques in feature stories. In 1962, Wolfe left Washington D.C. for New York City, taking
7029-413: The summer, in the style of Southern gentlemen . He found that the suit he had bought was too heavy for summer use, so he wore it in winter, which created a sensation. At the time, white suits were supposed to be reserved for summer wear. Wolfe maintained this as a trademark. He sometimes accompanied it with a white tie, white homburg hat , and two-tone spectator shoes . Wolfe said that the outfit disarmed
7128-782: The tenth anniversary of their advent, Wolfe wrote that "the universe of blogs is a universe of rumors" and that "blogs are an advance guard to the rear." He also took the opportunity to criticize Misplaced Pages, saying that "only a primitive would believe a word of" it. He noted a story about him in his Misplaced Pages bio article at the time which he said had never happened. Wolfe's views and choice of subject material, such as mocking left-wing intellectuals in Radical Chic , glorifying astronauts in The Right Stuff , and critiquing Noam Chomsky in The Kingdom of Speech sometimes resulted in his being labeled conservative . Wolfe has been labeled
7227-501: The things I have mocked." Wolfe opposed the American two-party system . Wolfe supported George W. Bush as a political candidate and said he voted for him for president in 2004 because of what he called Bush's "great decisiveness and willingness to fight". Bush reciprocated the admiration, and is said to have read all of Wolfe's books, according to friends in 2005. Wolfe supported the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan , but opposed
7326-414: The title character is a student of neuroscience. Wolfe describes the characters' thought and emotional processes, such as fear, humiliation and lust, in the clinical terminology of brain chemistry. Wolfe also frequently gives detailed descriptions of various aspects of his characters' anatomies. Wolfe adopted wearing a white suit as a trademark in 1962. He bought his first white suit, planning to wear it in
7425-489: The towns of Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro, and then through the Mulberry, Fairplains, and Hays communities, causing significant damage. Wilkes County is far enough inland that hurricanes rarely cause problems, but a strong hurricane which moves inland quickly enough may cause damage, as with Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and Hurricane Helene in 2024. Due to the numerous creeks and streams which run through its valleys, Wilkes
7524-455: The track's closure in 1996, numerous news media stories and articles were written about the rich history of the speedway, the physical decay of the track and grandstands, and efforts to renovate and save the speedway. In November 2021, the North Carolina state legislature and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper approved giving $ 18 million to the North Wilkesboro Speedway for extensive renovations and repairs in an effort to return auto racing to
7623-522: The track. Following the renovation, the Speedway held its first races in a decade in August 2022, drawing a sellout crowd to the CARS Tour's Window World 125. In September 2022 it was announced that the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race would be held at the North Wilkesboro Speedway in May 2023, marking the first NASCAR race to be held at the track since 1996. The All-Star race was held on May 21, 2023, before
7722-458: The use of status symbols, Wolfe has said, "I think every living moment of a human being's life, unless the person is starving or in immediate danger of death in some other way, is controlled by a concern for status." Wolfe also championed what he called "saturation reporting," a reportorial approach in which the journalist "shadows" and observes the subject over an extended period of time. "To pull it off," says Wolfe, "you casually have to stay with
7821-506: The very literary establishment on which Wolfe had long heaped scorn. Because of the success of Wolfe's first novel, there was widespread interest in his second. This novel took him more than 11 years to complete; A Man in Full was published in 1998. The book's reception was not universally favorable, though it received glowing reviews in Time , Newsweek , The Wall Street Journal , and elsewhere. An initial printing of 1.2 million copies
7920-513: The views of Alfred Russel Wallace and Chomsky on the language organ as not being a product of natural selection to suggest that speech is an invention that is responsible for establishing our humanity. Some critics claimed that Wolfe's view on how humans developed speech were not supported by research and were opinionated. In 1977, PBS produced Tom Wolfe's Los Angeles , a fictional, satirical TV movie set in Los Angeles. Wolfe appears in
8019-407: The whole of a culture, including those elements considered profane. Wolfe's undergraduate thesis, entitled "A Zoo Full of Zebras: Anti-Intellectualism in America," evinced his fondness for words and aspirations toward cultural criticism. Wolfe graduated cum laude in 1951. While still in college, Wolfe continued playing baseball as a pitcher and began to play semi-professionally. In 1952, he earned
8118-529: Was Andrew Jackson in 1832. The Whig Party dominated politics in the county from 1836 until its dissolution in the middle 1850s. Since the formation of the Republican Party in 1854, Wilkes County has voted Republican in every election bar three: in 1856 it voted for "Know-Nothing" Millard Fillmore , in 1860 for Constitutional Unionist John Bell , and in 1912 for Progressive Theodore Roosevelt . The primary governing body of Wilkes County follows
8217-415: Was 42.4 years. For every 100 females there were 97.69 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.42 males. The median income for a household in the county was $ 30,668, and the median income for a family was $ 39,670. Males had a median income of $ 30,917 versus $ 26,182 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 18,319. About 17.60% of families and 21.50% of the population were below
8316-557: Was a biting account of a party given by composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein to raise money for the Black Panther Party . "Mau-Mauing The Flak Catchers" was about the practice by some African Americans of using racial intimidation ("mau-mauing") to extract funds from government welfare bureaucrats ("flak catchers"). Wolfe's phrase, " radical chic ", soon became a popular derogatory term for critics to apply to upper-class leftism . His Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine (1977) included Wolfe's noted essay, The "Me" Decade and
8415-548: Was a member of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity. He majored in English, was sports editor of the college newspaper, and helped found a literary magazine, Shenandoah, giving him opportunities to practice his writing both inside and outside the classroom. Of particular influence was his professor Marshall Fishwick , a teacher of American studies educated at UVA and Yale . More in the tradition of anthropology than literary scholarship, Fishwick taught his students to look at
8514-629: Was an atheist but said that "I hate people who go around saying they're atheists". Of his religious upbringing, Wolfe observed that he "was raised as a Presbyterian ". He sometimes referred to himself as a "lapsed Presbyterian." Wolfe was a defender of Catholic schools . Wolfe was also critical of the sexual revolution , describing it as a "sexual carnival." He expressed sympathy towards Puritanical-Christian views on sexuality. Wolfe lived in New York City with his wife Sheila, who designed covers for Harper's Magazine . They had two children:
8613-442: Was an American author and journalist widely known for his association with New Journalism , a style of news writing and journalism developed in the 1960s and 1970s that incorporated literary techniques. Much of Wolfe's work is satirical and centres on the counterculture of the 1960s and issues related to class , social status , and the lifestyles of the economic and intellectual elites of New York City . Wolfe began his career as
8712-463: Was announced and the book stayed at number one on The New York Times ' bestseller list for ten weeks. Noted author John Updike wrote a critical review for The New Yorker , complaining that the novel "amounts to entertainment, not literature, even literature in a modest aspirant form." His comments sparked an intense war of words in the print and broadcast media among Wolfe and Updike, and authors John Irving and Norman Mailer , who also entered
8811-538: Was born on March 2, 1930, in Richmond, Virginia , the son of Helen Perkins Hughes Wolfe, a garden designer, and Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Sr. (1893–1972), an agronomist and editor of The Southern Planter . He grew up on Gloucester Road in the Richmond North Side neighborhood of Sherwood Park . He recounted childhood memories in a foreword to a book about the nearby historic Ginter Park neighborhood. He
8910-482: Was closed following the 1996 NASCAR season. Two new owners, Bob Bahre and Bruton Smith , moved North Wilkesboro's NASCAR races to their tracks in Texas and New Hampshire . In 2009, Speedway Associates, Inc., obtained a three-year lease and started running races and other events at the speedway. However, in May 2011, the group announced that funding had fallen through and they were ending their lease prematurely. Following
9009-458: Was criticised by Norman Mailer , John Updike and John Irving , after they were asked if they believed that his books were deserving of their critical acclaim. Mailer compared reading a Wolfe novel to having sex with a 300 lb woman, saying, "Once she gets to the top it's all over. Fall in love or be asphyxiated." Updike was more literary in his reservedness: He claimed that A Man in Full "amounts to entertainment, not literature, even literature in
9108-421: Was featured by the writer Tom Wolfe in a 1965 Esquire magazine article titled "The Last American Hero Is Junior Johnson. Yes!", which gave him national exposure. Wolfe's vivid article was later adapted as the movie The Last American Hero (1973), starring Jeff Bridges and Valerie Perrine . Benny Parsons and Jimmy Pardue were two other notable NASCAR drivers from Wilkes. The North Wilkesboro Speedway
9207-485: Was frightened by the quality of his work. Later that year he published an essay titled My Three Stooges about the critics. Wolfe's writing throughout his career showed an interest in social status competition. Much of Wolfe's later work addresses neuroscience . He notes his fascination in "Sorry, Your Soul Just Died", one of the essays in Hooking Up . This topic is also featured in I Am Charlotte Simmons , as
9306-495: Was leaving his longtime publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux . His fourth novel, Back to Blood , was published in October 2012 by Little, Brown and Company . According to The New York Times , Wolfe was paid close to US$ 7 million for the book. According to the publisher, Back to Blood is about "class, family, wealth, race, crime, sex, corruption and ambition in Miami, the city where America's future has arrived first." The book
9405-557: Was once known as the " Moonshine Capital of the World", and was a leading producer of illegal homemade liquor. From the 1920s to the 1950s some young Wilkes County males made their living by delivering moonshine to North Carolina's larger towns and cities. Wilkes County natives also used bootleg liquor as a means for barter far beyond the borders of North Carolina. Many Wilkes County distillers ran white liquor as far as Detroit , New Jersey , and South Florida . Since this often involved outrunning local police and federal agents in auto chases,
9504-422: Was popularized in 1958 by the top-selling Kingston Trio song "Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley." Dula's story was also turned into a 1959 movie starring Michael Landon as Dula, and each summer Bleu Moon Productions presents an outdoor drama based on the story. In 2001, Tom Dula was ceremonially acquitted of all charges by the county. Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)
9603-411: Was released to mixed reviews. Back to Blood was an even bigger commercial failure than I Am Charlotte Simmons . Kurt Vonnegut said Wolfe is "the most exciting—or, at least, the most jangling—journalist to appear in some time," and "a genius who will do anything to get attention." Paul Fussell called Wolfe a splendid writer and stated "Reading him is exhilarating not because he makes us hopeful of
9702-575: Was student council president, editor of the school newspaper, and a star baseball player at St. Christopher's School , an Episcopal all-boys school in Richmond. In 1991, he wrote another touching remembrance of his childhood in Sherwood Park in a letter to a man who purchased the Wolfe home place. Upon graduation in 1947, he turned down admission to Princeton University to attend Washington and Lee University . At Washington and Lee, Wolfe
9801-551: Was voted the 2004 Small Business of the Year by the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce . Wilkes Medical Center was opened in 1952 as Wilkes General Hospital. In 2017, Wake Forest Baptist Health brought the hospital, at the time known as Wilkes Regional Medical Center, into their system. WMC is the largest hospital in northwestern North Carolina and is Wilkes County's fourth largest employer. West Park, formerly
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