The city was polarized by several high-profile incidents of racism, particularly the murders-in white neighborhoods-of two black men: Willie Turks, who was murdered in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn in 1982, and Michael Griffith who was killed in Howard Beach, Queens, in 1986. īeneath Wall Street's success, the city was a hotbed of racial and cultural tension. Wolfe intended his novel to capture the essence of New York City in the 1980s. The title is a reference to the historical Bonfire of the Vanities, which happened in 1497 in Florence, Italy, when the city was under the sway of the Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola, who ordered the burning of objects that church authorities considered sinful, such as cosmetics, mirrors, books, and art. It has often been called the quintessential novel of the 1980s, and in 1990 was adapted into a critically maligned film of the same name by Brian De Palma. The novel was a bestseller and a phenomenal success, even in comparison with Wolfe's other books. Wolfe heavily revised it before it was published in book form.
The novel was originally conceived as a serial in the style of Charles Dickens' writings: it ran in 27 installments in Rolling Stone starting in 1984. The story is a drama about ambition, racism, social class, politics, and greed in 1980s New York City, and centers on three main characters: WASP bond trader Sherman McCoy, Jewish assistant district attorney Larry Kramer, and British expatriate journalist Peter Fallow. The Bonfire of the Vanities is a 1987 novel by Tom Wolfe.
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