In 1970, he published two essays in book form as "Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers". "Radical Chic" was a biting account of a party given by composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein to raise money for the Black Panther Party. "Mau-Mauing The Flak Catchers" was about the practice by some African Americans of using racial intimidation ("mau-mauing") to extract funds from government welfare bureaucrats ("flak catchers"). Wolfe's phrase, "radical chic", soon became a popular derogatory term for critics to apply to upper-class leftism. His "Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine" (1977) included Wolfe's noted essay, "The "Me" Decade and the Third Great Awakening".