*Starred Review* Growing up in working-class Baton Rouge as the Civil Rights Act of 1965 began to take effect, Parrish heard the n-word a lot, including from his father and staunch Christians. He learned that being a man meant being strong, athletic, and, in the crunch, violent. Parrish's older brother taught him to be an ace passer and receiver at football, but his manliness was tested when tough kids messed with him. He kept up his end, but could he continue to do it? Meanwhile, blacks began moving into white working-class neighborhoods. Parrish then took up with a kid who knew how to fight and enjoyed it. When a second crunch came, Parrish got in a race fight at school. But in the aftermath, he changed his mind, gave up his brawling buddy, and saw that things weren't as he'd thought they were, including the correctness of his father's attitudes. Parrish has also written stories and a forthcoming novel, and his memoir is a dramatic literary performance, concerned with setting and pace and as singularly focused as much first-person realist fiction. It is immensely readable and engaging, not least because, despite its narrative shapeliness, Parrish examines the contradictions of his young life, chief among them the fact that one of his best longtime friends was a black fellow athlete and top student. This is one of those books that, once read, is never forgotten. Ed: needs cataloging.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2010 Booklist