In Jewish Texas: A Family Memoir

Stanley Ely says that when the fiftieth or so person confronted him with a skeptical, “You mean you’re Jewish, and you’re from Texas?” he decided to do more than smile and say, “Yes.” The result is this funny, caustic, and nostalgic tale in the tradition of popular regionally and ethnically focused memoirs.

Around the beginning of this century, Ely’s parents (as young children) and grandparents immigrated to Galveston, fleeing oppression as Jews in Russia and Romania. Their arrival sets Ely’...