Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers

Tom Wolfe’s 1970 work consists of two long-form essays examining the intersection of social status and racial politics in America. The first part observes a 1970 fundraiser hosted by Leonard Bernstein for the Black Panther Party, illustrating how Manhattan’s wealthy elite adopted radical political causes as a fashion statement to maintain cultural relevance. The second part shifts to San Francisco, documenting how minority activists used intimidating "Mau-Mauing" tactics to navigate new government bureaucracies and extract funding from intimidated white officials known as flak catchers.

This book serves readers interested in the mechanics of class performance and the sociology of mid-century urban discord. It attracts those studying the history of New Journalism and the specific frictions of the Great Society era. The reader walks away with a clear understanding of the performative nature of political allyship and how administrative structures incentivized confrontation over cooperation. Wolfe provides a vocabulary for identifying the contradictions between high-society aesthetics and grassroots militancy.