Tom Wolfe elevated journalism into enduring literature

In 20th-century popular culture, journalists were portrayed as needy hacks desperate to write the Great American Novel.

• William McKeen
• The Conversation

Journalism was the means to an end that few achieved.

But Tom Wolfe, who died May 14 at age 88, helped change that in the 1960s.

He was one of the New Journalists, who wrote nonfiction using the techniques of fiction.

As an example: Journalists had long been trained to use direct quotations sparingly and to look for money quotes, working them into stories with stenographic rhythm.

Wolfe and the…

• Tom Wolfe elevated…