Product Details
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
By Sloan Wilson

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Product Description

Universally acclaimed when first published in 1955, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit captured the mood of a generation. Its title — like Catch-22 and Fahrenheit 451 — has become a part of America's cultural vocabulary. Tom Rath doesn't want anything extraordinary out of life: just a decent home, enough money to support his family, and a career that won't crush his spirit. After returning from World War II, he takes a PR job at a television network. It is inane, dehumanizing work. But when a series of personal crises force him to reexamine his priorities — and take responsibility for his past — he is finally moved to carve out an identity for himself. This is Sloan Wilson's searing indictment of a society that had just begun to lose touch with its citizens. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is a classic of American literature and the basis of the award-winning film starring Gregory Peck. "A consequential novel." — Saturday Review

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #178579 in Books
  • Published on: 2002-10-01
  • Original language: English
  • Dimensions: .85" h x 5.56" w x 8.24" l, .66 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 288 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Though it's cited in nearly every book and article about the culture of the 1950s, few readers under 65 know Sloan Wilson's The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit firsthand. The 1955 bestseller is being reissued with a new introduction by Jonathan Franzen-and, indeed, the story of disappointed Westport, Conn., strivers Tom and Betsy Rath anticipates the novels of suburban anomie by Franzen and his contemporaries. Dreaming of a bigger house for his wife and three kids, WWII veteran Tom leaves his job with an arts foundation to be a well-paid public relations executive at the United Broadcasting Corporation. But corporate ladder climbing and consumer rewards leave him miserable. Though his sentimental conclusion now seems dated, Wilson's portrait of the martini-soaked malcontents is sharp, memorable and still resonant today.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"The writing is vigorous, unvarnished, tartly observant; its overhanging disquietude isn't dated - if anything, it's deepened." - Los Angeles Times Book Review

From the Inside Flap
"One of the most influential American novels of the 1950s." --David Halberstam

"A consequential novel . . . by a mature writer who knows unwaveringly what he is about." --Saturday Review

"A thoughtful, searching novel." --New York Herald Tribune

"Masterful." --Detroit News

"Excellent . . . sure, bright, and alive." --Chicago Tribune

"Delightful . . . beautifully plotted." --Boston Herald

"[An] excellent novel." --Kansas City Star

"Exact in its account of the pressures, problems and tribal customs of the men in gray flannel suits. . . . Wilson is an observer, a sympathetic one. . . . He has written an entertaining social comedy." --New York Times

"Wilson has something to say." --Time

"Interesting and enjoyable . . . [Wilson] has important things to say about security, expediency, responsibility, and integrity." --Pittsburgh Press

"Memorable . . . Wilson shows a rare insight into human nature." --Charlotte Observer

"Wilson is an expert. . . . His dialogue could have been piped from any of thousands of offices or living rooms. . . . He has done more than take a trip to Brooks Brothers to find out what makes a gray flannel suit. He knows much of what makes the men who wear them." --Christian Science Monitor

"In his calm way, Wilson brings to the mind’s eye a man we all know, and most of us rather like." --San Francisco Chronicle

"A perceptive story of . . . the generation who came of age in World War II." --Miami Herald

"Brilliant . . . Wilson has captured the feeling of outright war and the ensuing 'peace' with admirable perception and veracity." --Vancouver Sun