Quote of the Day (Tom Wolfe, on the Me Decade)

“It was remarkable enough that ordinary folks now had enough money to take it and run off and alter the circumstances of their lives and create new roles for themselves, such as Trailer Sailor or Gerontoid Cowboy. But, simultaneously, still others decided to go . . . all the way. They plunged straight toward what has become the alchemical dream of the Me Decade….The new alchemical dream is: changing one’s personality—remaking, remodeling, elevating, and polishing one’s very self . . . and observing, studying, and doting on it. (Me!)—Tom Wolfe, “The Me Decade and the Third Great Awakening,” New York Magazine, August 23, 1976

With his coinage of the phrase “Me Decade” 35 years ago today, Tom Wolfe further solidified his status as an astute, witty chronicler of the spirit of the age.