http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/37205

Barney Ross

Born Dov-Ber Rasofsky to Eastern European immigrants, Barney Ross saw his father's murder, his mother's nervous breakdown, and his three younger siblings sent 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 for Al Capone, and, eventually, an amateur boxer. Turning professional at nineteen, he would capture the lightweight, junior welterweight, and welterweight titles over the course of a ten-year career. Ross began his career as the scrappy "Jew kid," ended it as a sports icon, and went on to become a World War II hero. Then, he worked for the creation of a Jewish state, running guns to Palestine and offering to lead a brigade of Jewish American war veterans. This first biography of one of the most colorful boxers of the twentieth century reveals an extraordinary athlete and a remarkable man.--From publisher description.

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