The Pump House Gang is a 1968 collection of essays and journalism by Tom Wolfe. The stories in the book explored various aspects of the counterculture of the 1960s. The most famous story in the collection, from which the book takes its name, is about Jack Macpherson and his gang of surfers that frequented a sewage pump house at Windansea Beach in La Jolla, California.^[1] Thomas Kennerly Wolfe (born March 2, 1931 in Richmond, Virginia), known as Tom Wolfe, is a best-selling American author and journalist. ... In political geography and international politics a country is a geographical entity, a territory, most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... New Journalism was the name given to a style of 1960s and 1970s news writing and journalism which used literary techniques deemed unconventional at the time. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Farrar, Straus and Giroux is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger W. Straus, Jr. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1968 Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Thomas Kennerly Wolfe (born March 2, 1931 in Richmond, Virginia), known as Tom Wolfe, is a best-selling American author and journalist. ... // The counterculture of the 1960s began in the United States as a reaction against the conservative social norms of the 1950s, the political conservatism (and perceived social repression) of the Cold War period, and the US governments extensive military intervention in Vietnam. ... Jack Macpherson (October 20, 1937 - November 16, 2006) was a former mailman and bartender in La Jolla, California. ... Windansea Beach encompasses a historic stretch of scenic coastline located in La Jolla, a community in San Diego, California. ... One of the beaches at La Jolla Cove. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ...

Publication

The Pump House Gang was published on the same day in 1968 as The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Wolfe's story about the LSD-fueled adventures of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. They were Wolfe's first books since The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby in 1965 which, like The Pump House Gang, was a collection of Wolfe's non-fiction essays. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is a literary journalism novel written by Tom Wolfe early in his career in 1968. ... Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly called LSD, LSD-25, or acid. ... Kenneth Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American author, best known for his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, and as a (counter) cultural figure who, some consider, was a link between the beat generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Steamline Baby is the title of Tom Wolfes first collected book of essays, published in 1965. ...

Though both books were well received and would go on to become best-sellers, of the two The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test was heralded as an instant classic and would become the better-known of the two books.^{[2][3] [4]}

Writing

All but two of the stories in the book were written in 1965 and 1966, during the ten months after the publication of The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamiline Baby. During this period Wolfe spent extensive time with many of his subjects, including Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy Magazine (who Wolfe famously compared to The Great Gatsby^[2]); Carol Doda, a stripper who helped popularize breast-implants; and the surfers of the pump house.^[5] Hugh Marston Hefner (born April 9, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois), also referred to colloquially as Hef, is the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine. ... Playboy is an adult entertainment magazine, or pornography magazine, founded in 1953 by Hugh Hefner, which has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc. ... The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. ... Carol Doda was a famous stripper in San Francisco in the 1960s. ...

Other subjects Wolfe profiles in the book include actress Natalie Wood, the New York Hilton hotel, the visionary media-theorist Marshall McLuhan and various socialites of New York. The essays collectively tell the story of the new status symbols and lifestyles of the 1960s and how the culture was changing from the traditional social heirarchies of the time.^[4] The success of the book cemented Wolfe as one of his generation's most prominent social critics.^[6] Natalie Wood (July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was a three time Academy Award nominated American film actress. ... Entrance of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hilton Hotel viewed from Wilshire Boulvard Hilton is a brand of the Hilton Hotels Corporation, based in Beverly Hills, California. ... McLuhan redirects here. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Style

The stories in The Pump House Gang are written in the style of New Journalism that Wolfe and other writers like Joan Didion and Gay Talese helped to popularize. According to Time Magazine's review of Wolfe's book: New Journalism was the name given to a style of 1960s and 1970s news writing and journalism which used literary techniques deemed unconventional at the time. ... Joan Didion (born December 5, 1934) is an American writer, known as a journalist, essayist, and novelist. ... Gay Talese Gay Talese (born February 7, 1932) is an American author. ... (Clockwise from upper left) Time magazine covers from May 7, 1945; July 25, 1969; December 31, 1999; September 14, 2001; and April 21, 2003. ...

He uses a language that explodes with comic-book words like "POW!" and "boing." His sentences are shot with ellipses, stabbed with exclamation points, or bombarded with long lists of brand names and anatomical terms. He is irritating, but he did develop a new journalistic idiom that has brought relief from standard Middle-High Journalese.^[4]

Wolfe's style was simultaneously mocked and widely imitated. In 1990 the Los Angeles Times interviewed many of the surfers who had been involved with the pump house gang. Some of the surfers claimed that Wolfe took liberties with the facts to embellish and mythologize the lifestyle of the surfers. Other members of the pump house game believe Wolfe's characterizations were correct.^[6] The Los Angeles Times (also known as the LA Times) is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California and distributed throughout the Western United States. ...

Contents

The Pump House Gang contains 15 stories:

1. The Pump House Gang
2. The Mid-Atlantic Man
3. King of the Status Dropouts
4. The Put-Together Girl
5. The Noonday Underground
6. The Mild Ones
7. The Hair Boys
8. What If He Is Right?
9. Bob and Spike
10. Tom Wolfe's New Book of Etiquette
11. The Life & Hard Times of a Teenage London Society Girl
12. The Private Game
13. The Automated Hotel
14. The Shockkkkkk of Recognition
15. O Rotten Gotham—Sliding Down into the Behavioral Sink

References