Tom Wolfe Books in Order
Tom Wolfe has written 18 books, published between 1961 and 2016. The first book is In Our Time (1961) and the newest is The Kingdom of Speech (2016). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 18
- Published
- 1961–2016
- Pages on record
- 5,457 in 14 of 18 books
- Reading time
- 91–136 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 5,457 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 14 of 18 titles with a page count on record.
Tom Wolfe wrote about American social life, status and popular culture, first as a reporter and later as a novelist. The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby (1965) and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) sit early in a catalogue of 18 books, alongside Radical Chic, The New Journalism and The Painted Word. The catalogue closed in 2016 with The Kingdom of Speech.
How many Tom Wolfe books are there?
Tom Wolfe has 18 books, released between 1961 and 2016.
Tom Wolfe Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 18 Tom Wolfe books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 1In Our Time1961 · 119 pages · confirmed 2/419611192/4
- 2The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby1965 · 368 pages · confirmed 2/419653682/4
- 3The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test1968 · 416 pages · confirmed 2/419684162/4
- 4The Pump House Gang1968 · confirmed 2/41968–2/4
- 5Radical Chic: And, Mau Mauing The Flak Catchers1970 · 154 pages · confirmed 2/419701542/4
- 6The New Journalism1973 · 394 pages · confirmed 2/419733942/4
- 7The Painted Word1975 · 99 pages · confirmed 2/41975992/4
- 8Mauve Gloves and Madman, Clutter and Vine1977 · confirmed 2/41977–2/4
- 9The Right Stuff1979 · 448 pages · confirmed 2/419794482/4
- 10From Bauhaus to Our House1981 · 128 pages · confirmed 2/419811282/4
- 11The Purple Decades1982 · 396 pages · confirmed 2/419823962/4
- 12The Bonfire of the Vanities1987 · 726 pages · confirmed 2/419877262/4
- 13Hooking Up1989 · 421 pages · confirmed 2/419894212/4
- 14A Man in Full1998 · 787 pages · confirmed 2/419987872/4
- 15Ambush at Fort Bragg2000 · confirmed 2/42000–2/4
- 16I Am Charlotte Simmons2004 · confirmed 2/42004–2/4
- 17Back to Blood2012 · 704 pages · confirmed 2/420127042/4
- 18The Kingdom of Speech2016 · 297 pages · confirmed 2/420162972/4
Tom Wolfe books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Standalone books
18 books18 Tom Wolfe titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Tom Wolfe Books in Chronological Order
By publication date, the Tom Wolfe books run from In Our Time (1961) to The Kingdom of Speech (2016), the sequence in the table above. No separate story order is recorded for Tom Wolfe in the book listings this catalogue merges, so publication order is the only order on record.
Do you have to read Tom Wolfe books in order?
No. No source lists any of the 18 Tom Wolfe books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.
Where to start with Tom Wolfe
Start with In Our Time (1961), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Tom Wolfe book?
The Kingdom of Speech (2016) is the newest Tom Wolfe book released so far.
Is there a new Tom Wolfe book coming?
No next Tom Wolfe book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Awards Tom Wolfe has won
Wikidata records 6 awards and 2 nominations for Tom Wolfe. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- National Book Award2010Won
- Carl Sandburg Literary Award2008Won
- Amateur Cartoonist Extraordinary Award1992Won
- St. Louis Literary Award1990Won
- Dos Passos Prize1984Won
- National Book Award for Nonfiction1980Wonfor The Right Stuff
- National Book Award for Fiction1998Shortlistedfor A Man in Full
- Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation1984Shortlistedfor The Right Stuff
Tom Wolfe at a glance
- No recent titles
- The newest Tom Wolfe title on record dates from 2016, 10 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
- Release pace
- Tom Wolfe books have appeared about one every 3 years on average.
- Length
- 5,457 pages across the 14 of 18 books with a recorded length, a median of 395 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Tom Wolfe books, 5 of 18, were published in the 1970s.
What the Tom Wolfe books are about
16 of the 18 Tom Wolfe books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: social life and customs is tagged on 6 of 16. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Social life and customs 6 of 16 books
- United states, social life and customs 3 of 16 books
- African Americans 2 of 16 books
- England, social life and customs 2 of 16 books
- History and criticism 2 of 16 books
- Popular culture 2 of 16 books
- Social status 2 of 16 books
- Statut social 2 of 16 books