Murray was born in Rome and spent his frirst 8 years there, before his family moved to New York. In 1947 he returned to Rome to study opera. The first half of this book is a memoir in which each chapter deals with memorable characters and events during his post-WWII stay in Rome. He subsequently abandons his opera ambitions and becomes a writer. The second part of his book relates his return to Rome in the 70's and consists of articles written for the New Yorker on different aspects of Italian politics and current events. The memoir portion is excellent and worth buying the book in and of itself. Murray captures what it was like to live in Rome and Naples immediately after WWII. The second half is uneven, primarily because what seemed to be important political events at the time are now somewhat stale and uninteresting. I can also highly recommend a later book by Murray- City Of The Soul - A Walk In Rome. ( )