A Man in Full

[TheBostonian]

Besides a zip through the city on a highway, Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full taught me all I know about Atlanta. The book describes things like some of the city's elite having a sense of inferiority to NYC and racial problems that leaders exploit. These don't sound like unique issues. But the book is partly about a real estate mogul and says quite a bit about real estate in the city. I'm hoping people who know the book can tell me where they think it misses and where it is right on.

[Andrea]

Besides a zip through the city on a highway, Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full taught me all I know about Atlanta. The book describes things like some of the city's elite having a sense of inferiority to NYC and racial problems that leaders exploit. These don't sound like unique issues. But the book is partly about a real estate mogul and says quite a bit about real estate in the city. I'm hoping people who know the book can tell me where they think it misses and where it is right on.

I think Charlie Croker certainly describes at least one archetype of the "New South" entrepeneur. (Most local people can probably tell you who the character is based on).

However, it's certainly not true across the board or, in my opinion, even representative of what's going on these days. Like most big cities, Atlanta is increasingly influenced by national and international developers, planners, financiers, architects, contractors, etc.

[Newnan_Eric]

I think Charlie Croker certainly describes at least one archetype of the "New South" entrepeneur. (Most local people can probably tell you who the character is based on).

However, it's certainly not true across the board or, in my opinion, even representative of what's going on these days. Like most big cities, Atlanta is increasingly influenced by national and international developers, planners, financiers, architects, contractors, etc.

I do think that many of the characters in the book are direct parodies of existing prominent Atlantans. However, some of them are characters from Atlanta