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Barney Ross (Jewish Encounters)
Born Dov-Ber Rasofsky to Eastern European immigrant parents, Barney Ross grew up in a tough Chicago neighborhood and witnessed his father’s murder, his mother’s nervous breakdown, and the dispatching of his three younger siblings to an orphanage, all before he turned fourteen. To make enough money to reunite the family, Ross became a petty thief, a gambler, a messenger boy...more
Hardcover, 240 pages
Published
February 7th 2006
by Schocken
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This is an excellent biography of one of the great Jewish boxers of the twentieth century. Barney Ross, born to immigrant parents from Eastern Europe, grew up in Chicago and witnessed his father's murder, his mother's nervous breakdown and the placement of his siblings in an orphanage, all before he turned 14. In order to make enough money to reunite the family, Ross became a petty thief, a gambler, a messenger for the notorious Al Capone, and, eventually an amateur boxer. He turned pro at 19 an...more
I have a weakness for these books about pugilists. This was a good one about a Chicago West-side Jewish youngster that picked himself up and became the lightweight and welterweight boxing champion of the world in the mid thirties. After he retired he joined the Marines and won the Silver Star on Guadacanal during WWII. And then broke a drug addiction initiated by morphine treatments of wounds and malaria suffered during the war.
I never knew of Ross until I recently heard a story abou...more
I never knew of Ross until I recently heard a story abou...more
Styles, the saying goes, make fights. The same goes, in large part, for books, especially sports biographies. One senses throughout Century's book a genuine pride and affection towards his subject, born of a genuine appreciation for struggles he endured. But that doesn't make this book. The writing is bland ; Century depends on breaking out of the narrative and adding information on the research process to impress us with the depth of his story, which is always somehow lacking. A good story told...more
This fascinating, entertaining biography covers all the highlights of the fighter's life without getting bogged down in unnecessary details, making it a page-turner from start to finish! From being a Jewish teenager fighting on the streets of Chicago (after witnessing his father's murder), to winning boxing championships (in different weight classes), to becoming a hero in World War II and subsequently developing - and then beating - a morphine addiction after being wounded, Ross's life story i...more
I enjoyed this concise biography of one of the most colorful and yet little known sports figures of the 20th century. Barney Ross was a larger than life character and Century's book does a good job of recreating his world. I recommend it highly.
Really good bio of a Jewish fighter from the 20's and 30's. Knew a lot of Chicago gangsters including good friend Jack Ruby.
The August selection for West Coast Torah Center's bookclub.
Every people have a culture--every nation, a story. Even our indigenous population grapple with the past to move forward. In writing about Barney Ross and the tough Jews of the thirties, it is sad to mention that those athletic pursuits that helped define a race are no longer considered as representative of the people. Somewhere between the netherworld of biography and myth, Century's novel leaves one crying for more. More flesh must surround one of the greatest of Jewish-Americans who walked ou...more
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