Sloan Wilson's 1955 novel, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, captures the mood of young advertising executives (like Tom Brace in this story). It is funny, poignant, and filled with mixed emotions about the struggle to succeed in commercial America and the fear that such success comes at the expense of one's soul.

Yates's best known work is his 1961 novel, Revolutionary Road, about a young husband and wife in the fifties who are upwardly mobile but eaten away by insecurity and discontent. It has been in print since its initial publication and is available as of 2006 from Vintage Contemporary.

Yates's short story, “The B.A.R. Man,” is about an army veteran, John Fallon, who works as a clerk at an insurance company and remembers his former glory in the war. He recalls that he was often referred to as...