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for a $ 600 million bond on which he had pegged all his hopes of paying the loan on his home and covering his family costs. While McCoy is reprimanded by his boss for failing to sell the bond, his lawyer, Tommy
Killian, calls to tell him of his upcoming arrest, forcing him to admit his legal problems to his boss, who makes him take a leave of absence as a result. McCoy's
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Abe Weiss pushes for McCoy's arrest. The evidence includes McCoy's car (which matches the description of the vehicle involved in the alleged hit and run), plus McCoy's evasive response to police questioning. The arrest all but ruins McCoy; distraction at work causes him to flub on finding an investor
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Fallow hears a rumor that Maria Ruskin was at the wheel of McCoy's car when it struck Lamb but has fled the country. Trying to uncover the truth, on the pretense of interviewing the rich and famous, Fallow meets with her husband, Arthur, at an expensive French restaurant. While recounting his life,
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apartment, combined with his wife's extravagances and other expenses required to keep up appearances are depleting his great income, or as McCoy calls it, a "hemorrhaging of money." McCoy's secure life as a self-regarded "Master of The
Universe" on Wall Street is gradually destroyed when he and his
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contained a new installment. Wolfe was not happy with his "very public first draft," and thoroughly revised his work. Even
Sherman McCoy, the central character of the novel, changed—originally a writer, in the book version he is cast as a bond salesman. (Wolfe came up with the revised occupation
215:
starting in 1984. Wolfe heavily revised it before it was published in book form. The novel was a bestseller and a commercial success, even in comparison with Wolfe's other books. It has often been called the quintessential novel of the 1980s, and in 1990 was adapted into a critically maligned
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writers, whom Wolfe viewed as his models, had often written their novels in serial installments. Wenner offered Wolfe around $ 200,000 to serialize his work. The deadline pressure gave him the motivation he had hoped for, and from July 1984 to August 1985 each biweekly issue of
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praised the book, saying it was "a big, bitter, funny, craftily plotted book that grabs you by the lapels and won't let go", but criticized its sometimes superficial characters, saying when "the book is over, there is an odd aftertaste, not entirely pleasant." However,
368:. Finding the ramp back to the highway blocked by trash cans and a tire, McCoy exits the car to clear the way. Approached by two black men whom they perceive as predators, McCoy and Ruskin flee. After Ruskin takes the wheel of the car to race away, it
463:, split along racial lines. Kramer is removed from the prosecution after it is revealed he was involved with Shelly Thomas in a sexual tryst at the apartment formerly used by Ruskin and McCoy. It is additionally revealed that McCoy has lost a
471:, has a $ 12 million liability, which has resulted in the freezing of his assets. The all-but-forgotten Henry Lamb succumbs to his injuries from the accident; McCoy, penniless and estranged from his wife and daughter, awaits trial for
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According to Wolfe, the characters are composites of many individuals and cultural observations. However, some characters were based on real people. Wolfe has acknowledged the character of Tommy
Killian is based on New York lawyer
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Beneath Wall Street's success, the city was a hotbed of racial and cultural tension. The city was polarized by several high-profile incidents of racism, particularly the murders—in white neighborhoods—of two black men:
444:—a recording that was obtained from an illegal voice-activated intercom device installed by the landlord of a rent-controlled apartment as a way to remove tenants—the judge assigned to the case declares her testimony "
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appeared in 1987. The book was a commercial and critical success, spending weeks on bestseller lists and earning praise from much of the literary establishment on which Wolfe had long heaped scorn.
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Wolfe began researching the novel by observing cases at the
Manhattan Criminal Court and shadowing members of the Bronx homicide squad. To overcome a case of writer's block, Wolfe wrote to
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look on. Maria is forced to return to the United States for his funeral, where McCoy confronts her about being "the only witness." Fallow overhears that she, not McCoy, was driving.
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Hoping to impress his boss as well as a former juror, Shelly Thomas, Assistant
District Attorney Larry Kramer prosecutes the case, opening with an unsuccessful bid to set McCoy's
688:
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Fallow's write-up of the association between
Sherman McCoy and Maria Ruskin prompts Assistant D.A. Kramer to offer her a deal: corroborate the other witness and receive
386:, is given the opportunity of a lifetime when he is persuaded to write a series of articles about Henry Lamb, a black youth who has said he has been the victim of a
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was Wolfe's first novel. Wolfe's prior works were mostly non-fiction journalistic articles and books. His earlier short stories appeared in his collection
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friends ostracize him, and his wife leaves him and takes their daughter
Campbell (McCoy's only source of genuine family love) to live with his parents.
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187:. The story is a drama about ambition, racism, social class, politics, and greed in 1980s New York City, and centers on three main characters:
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judge known for his no-nonsense, imperious handling of cases in his courtroom, was the model for the character of Myron
Kovitsky in the book.
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became something of a folk-hero in the city for shooting a group of young black men who tried to rob him in the subway in 1984.
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TCM Announces
Lucille Ball and The Bonfire of the Vanities for New Seasons of Hit Podcast The Plot Thickens|Pressroom
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at $ 250,000. Released on $ 10,000 bail, McCoy is besieged by demonstrators who are protesting outside his home.
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success story gone wrong. Fallow's articles on the matter ignite protests and media coverage of the Lamb case.
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owner Sir Gerald Steiner, while Ruskin has escaped prosecution and remarried. McCoy's first trial ends in a
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by a wealthy white driver. Fallow cynically tolerates the manipulations of Reverend Bacon, a
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mistress, Maria Ruskin, accidentally enter the Bronx at night while they are driving back to
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claimed "No one has portrayed New York Society this accurately & devastatingly since
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as journalist (and narrator of the film) Peter Fallow. The screenplay was written by
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Up for re-election and accused of foot-dragging in the Lamb case, the media-obsessed
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713:"Personality Spotlight: Bernhard Goetz, 'subway vigilante' - UPI Archives"
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published a retrospective on how the city had changed since Wolfe's novel.
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Arthur has a fatal heart attack, as disturbed patrons and an annoyed
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religious and political leader who sees the hospitalized youth as a
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National Review quoted in the Bantam 1990 edition of Wolfe's novel.
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The book was a major bestseller, and also received strong reviews.
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An Afternoon With Ed Hayes, Celebrated Litigator and Memoirist
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Larry Kramer, and British expatriate journalist Peter Fallow.
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of a conversation that contradicts Ruskin's statement to the
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An opera adaptation, with music by Stefania de Kenessey and
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In 2007, on the book's 20th anniversary of publication,
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This article is about the novel. For the 1990 film, see
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Taylor, John (21 March 1988) "The Book on Tom Wolfe",
980:"'The Bonfire of the Vanities' Gets Opera Adaptation"
871:, December 10, 2007. Retrieved on January 13, 2008.
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after spending a day on the government-bond desk of
256:Wolfe intended his novel to capture the essence of
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851:The Reinvention of the Rev. Al Sharpton - Newsweek
1234:The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby
596:, premiered in New York City on October 9, 2015.
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1159:Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers
332:.) Wolfe researched and revised for two years.
745:, October 24, 2010. Accessed October 24, 2010.
1284:The 'Me' Decade and the Third Great Awakening
1250:Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine
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489:Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine
1029:, Jackson: University Press of Mississippi,
1459:Works originally published in Rolling Stone
232:The title is a reference to the historical
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665:"The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe"
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209:' writings: it ran in 27 installments in
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949:"Louis Auchincloss by David Carrier"
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1399:Ambassador Book Award-winning works
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1404:American novels adapted into films
1045:The Critical Response to Tom Wolfe
663:Hoby, Hermione (10 January 2010).
557:The Bonfire of the Vanities (film)
547:praised it as "a marvelous book".
21:The Bonfire of the Vanities (film)
14:
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1291:Stalking the Billion-Footed Beast
1047:, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
1007:, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
947:Carrier, David (1 October 1997).
912:Conroy, Frank (1 November 1987).
565:was adapted into a film starring
978:Chow, Andrew R. (12 July 2015).
467:to the Lamb family and, pending
23:. For the historical event, see
1419:Farrar, Straus and Giroux books
1151:The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
1005:Tom Wolfe: A Critical Companion
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403:Bronx County District Attorney
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1043:Shomette, Doug, ed. (1992),
1025:Conversations with Tom Wolfe
1021:Scura, Dorothy, ed. (1990),
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455:and marries the daughter of
330:Long-Term Capital Management
236:, which happened in 1497 in
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234:Bonfire of the Vanities
25:Bonfire of the vanities
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1309:The Last American Hero
1124:I Am Charlotte Simmons
887:London Review of Books
636:Barbarians at the Gate
473:vehicular manslaughter
451:Fallow later wins the
194:Sherman McCoy, Jewish
1215:The Kingdom of Speech
643:Billionaire Boys Club
252:Historical background
218:film of the same name
1454:The Bronx in fiction
1394:1987 American novels
735:McFadden, Robert D.
282:Howard Beach, Queens
90:Farrar Straus Giroux
1429:Novels by Tom Wolfe
1242:The Pump House Gang
702:The New York Times.
379:journalist for the
246:Girolamo Savonarola
183:is a 1987 novel by
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918:The New York Times
868:The New York Times
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573:as his wife Judy,
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352:. His $ 3 million
280:who was killed in
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669:The Guardian
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622:Liar's Poker
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616:Oliver Stone
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579:Bruce Willis
571:Kim Cattrall
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101:October 1987
1373:(franchise)
1191:In Our Time
1143:Non-fiction
610:, the 1987
607:Wall Street
551:Adaptations
502:Al Sharpton
465:civil trial
408:upper class
388:hit and run
354:Park Avenue
308:Jann Wenner
272:section of
192:bond trader
1388:Categories
1258:Hooking Up
997:References
985:2015-09-12
966:Ragen 2002
923:29 October
897:29 October
893:(4): 15–16
823:Ragen 2002
811:Scura 1990
792:Ragen 2002
778:2020-01-16
755:Ragen 2002
722:2024-08-11
674:29 October
457:City Light
442:grand jury
384:City Light
1093:Tom Wolfe
1091:Works by
650:Footnotes
567:Tom Hanks
561:In 1990,
543:Novelist
519:Reception
461:hung jury
438:recording
377:alcoholic
370:fishtails
362:Manhattan
316:Victorian
270:Gravesend
242:Dominican
185:Tom Wolfe
158:213470814
123:Paperback
86:Publisher
52:Tom Wolfe
1363:See also
1293:" (1989)
1286:" (1976)
1279:" (1967)
600:See also
590:libretto
430:immunity
396:projects
274:Brooklyn
119:Hardback
68:Language
563:Bonfire
504:and/or
484:Bonfire
446:tainted
381:tabloid
244:priest
117:Print (
71:English
1355:(2024)
1347:(2020)
1328:(1990)
1320:(1983)
1312:(1973)
1269:Essays
1261:(2000)
1253:(1976)
1245:(1968)
1237:(1965)
1218:(2016)
1210:(1982)
1202:(1981)
1194:(1980)
1186:(1979)
1178:(1975)
1170:(1975)
1162:(1970)
1154:(1968)
1135:(2012)
1127:(2004)
1119:(1998)
1111:(1987)
1100:Novels
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469:appeal
392:Harlem
350:trader
203:serial
171:
121:&
48:Author
809:. In
364:from
357:co-op
348:bond
296:Bronx
228:Title
130:Pages
76:Genre
1049:ISBN
1031:ISBN
1009:ISBN
925:2014
899:2014
676:2014
434:wire
415:bail
294:, a
189:WASP
152:OCLC
139:ISBN
865:".
717:UPI
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220:by
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