In this poignant and vivid Autobiography/​Memoir, Peter M. Wolf, a mem­ber of one of New Orlean­s’s old­est Jew­ish fam­i­lies pro­vides an insid­er’s look at his fabled city. Dur­ing under­grad­u­ate years at Yale, the author’s close friends include Calvin Trillin, the cel­e­brat­ed author and humorist-to-be, Hen­ry Geldzahler, future famous cura­tor at the Met­ro­pol­i­tan Muse­um, and Ger­ald Jonas, poet and author. Each from a more tra­di­tion­al Jew­ish fam­i­ly, through expo­sure to them, Wolf becomes acute­ly aware of his city’s inflex­i­bly strat­i­fied reli­gious and racial struc­ture. We encounter a spe­cial form of assim­i­lat­ed South­ern Jew­ish­ness. His rab­bi rou­tine­ly attends his fam­i­ly’s annu­al blow out Christ­mas party.