Wolfe's major theme has always been the changes wrought in American style and sensibility by the post-World-War-II money boom; in the early 60's, technology, the youth culture, and go-go capitalism came together in the most baroque ways ever….

More than any other journalist, Wolfe has relied on a shared understanding with the reader. A typical strategy was to describe a person or phenomenon, then isolate a key element (what he calls a "status detail"), italicize it, and follow it with an exclamation point and ellipses. To wit: "She was wearing Gucci hip-huggers. Gucci hip-huggers! …" The assumption was that the reader knew what it meant to wear Gucci hip-huggers; in the status-detail-laden 60's, he usually did. Wolfe once said he tried to pretend he was composing a letter, because people directed their best writing to friends, "or someone you think understands you."

Now that the money has dried up...