The "Me" Decade and the Third Great Awakening

The "Me" Decade and the Third Great Awakening
Cover of August 23, 1976 issue of New York magazine in which the essay first appeared
AuthorTom Wolfe
LanguageEnglish
Published23 August 1976 (1976-08-23)
Publication placeUnited States

"The 'Me' Decade and the Third Great Awakening" is an essay by American author Tom Wolfe, in which Wolfe coined the phrase "'Me' Decade", a term that became common as a descriptor for the 1970s. The essay was first published as the cover story in the August 23, 1976 issue of New York magazine[1] and later appeared in his collection Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine.[2]

In one of the essay's most famous passages, exemplifying his style of description, Wolfe called Jimmy Carter a "Missionary lectern-pounding Amen ten-finger C-major-chord Sister-Martha-at-the-Yamaha-keyboard loblolly piney-woods Baptist."[2]: 134 

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