Turbulent Souls (1999)

Doesn't every kid wish he or she, like Clark Kent, had a secret identity? Stephen J. Dubner, a writer and editor at The New York Times Magazine, discovered he did: Although he had been raised as a Roman Catholic by fiercely devout parents, both his mother and his father had been born Jews who converted to Catholicism as young adults during World War II. Dubner unravels his family mystery in Turbulent Souls like Columbo (who, come to think of it, was really a Jew too) in a lovely memoir that probes questions of birthright, faith, and their role in the life of the rock & roll generation without getting preachy. A