Stars in the Ring: Jewish Champions in the Golden Age of Boxing: A Photographic History

Mike Silver provides biographical sketches, with photographs and career summaries, of countless Jewish fighters from the Golden Age of Boxing. Often he covers them both inside and outside of the ring, and follows them into retirement. These sketches are interspersed with brief but informative essays on the history of boxing and on how the sport both shaped and was shaped by the times. Did you know that for decades during the first half of the last century boxing was more popular and remunerative than baseball? I didn't. Want to know how boxing was depicted on the silver screen? The author tells you. And at the end he provides an appendix with numerous lists that help to place the narratives in context. Here's a well made coffee-table book that you will actually read. Highly recommended.

I just finished reading "Stars in the Ring," and I am totally impressed with this book. It is both a thoughtful historical depiction of a unique period in American history and a fascinating glimpse into the personal lives of these boxers. Mike Silver is a great storyteller. He brings the Jewish boxers who fought during the first four decades of the 20th century to life again. He sets their achievements into the larger historical context of their time. The book is enhanced by fascinating sidebars, colorful anecdotes and numerous "top ten" lists. I found the book to be so engaging that I had trouble putting it down once I started reading. Aside from the superb writing, the 250 plus photos are worth the price of the book. This engrossing book is a worthy complement to Silver's other book, "The Arc of Boxing: the Rise and Decline of the Sweet Science." If you have any interest in learning about a fascinating and forgotten aspect of Jewish immigrant history, this book is for you.

Mike Silver leaves no stone unturned as he relates the history with all its glamor, hardships and glory of these gallant warriors fighting under the six-pointed Star of David, beginning with the reign of Daniel Mendoza, the pride of England's bare-knuckle fighters at a time when George Washington was organizing thirteen colonies into the United States of America until today's small band of still prominent Jewish warriors. It may have been a labor of love for Mike Silver but it is a treasured treat for all who read it.

Good book

Fine

The subject is very interesting the writing some times is dull, perhaps because of lack of definite factual information

Tough to include "everybody" but here goes..Pedro Montanez usually listed among handful of top Puerto Rican fighters(see Jews in sports site)..I didn't notice Dana Rosenblatt who had some lightly regarded world titles-but I think the last Jewish fighter prior to Yuri Foreman-that I didn't notice-IBF jr featherweight title holder Fabrice Benichou..I'm assuming Jake and Joey LaMotta(I've heard the LaMotta's mother was Jewish-and my late uncle Allen Rosenfeld author of a 657 page book on Charley Burley saw him fight several times in Detroit wearing a Jewish star)..I'm always sorry to see Max Schmeling used as a "Nazi" since he saved Jews during Kristallnacht-and may be boxing's ultimate saint-and if Max Baer is included for being partially Jewish on his paternal(doesn't count) side..it's my understanding that the Klitschko's are also Jewish on their father's side.

STARS IN THE RING is among the most valuable books I have in my library. It is more than entertaining, it is important. It is, as far as I'm concerned, the definitive history of yet another "gift of the Jews" as yet unsung.In the early 20th century, the rough-and-tumble sons of poor immigrant Jews found a sport that welcomed them and allowed them to compete, for perhaps the first time in 5,000 years, on even terms. New York City's lower east side was an epicenter of activity (as was the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and London), where young men emerged as trainers, cut men, managers, fighters and before long, as contenders and champions. No one can deny the critical contribution of this demographic to boxing as we know it. This book proves it. And Silver proves again that he is a first-rate historian of the sweet science as he combines exhaustive research with vignettes that neither rabbinical students nor students of sports history will easily forget. During several sittings (this isn't a book you can read in a day), I was faced with stories poignant enough to prompt me to put the book down and take a walk. Silver is good to scatter many light-hearted moments amid the tragedies. Consider Harold Green, a contender in the 40s. Green was hit or seemed to get hit by Rocky Graziano, fell on his face, and as the referee yelled out "10 and you're out," Green popped up and strenuously argued that he was okay and ready to fight. Green went after Graziano anyway, but it's too late. What happened? Green said he was promised a title shot by the guys with toothpicks in their mouths if he took a dive, but changed his mind at -literally- the last second. Then there's "Blink" McCloskey (nee Louis Silverman), a Philly fighter who turned pro in 1902. He went half-blind but refused to retire. He replaced his bad eye with a glass eye and before the first round of a fight, he'd pop his glass eye out of its socket and hand it to one of his corner men. "Ergo," quips Silver, "his nickname." I'm wondering if "Gruesome" McCloskey would have been a more fitting nickname. Benny Leonard, Ted "Kid" Lewis, "Slapsie" Maxie Rosenbloom. Silver summons them all to appear on these pages; and they are joined by, believe it or not, former Golden Gloves boxer Billy Joel, Jackie Mason, and aspiring 16-year-old boxer named Allen Konigsberg (nee Woody Allen).Silver handles a universe of information with great skill and style. Nothing is overdone. At the end is a lamentation that is a must-read for modern boxing fans and boxing writers who are too caught up in the status quo to think straight. While he duly recognizes the corruption that has always plagued the sport, he turns the full brunt of his indignation toward those "bandits" operating behind the facade of so-called sanctioning bodies that pass off faux titles for profit. Silver is both master boxing historian and a clear-thinking pragmatist. Someone ought to hand him a ram's horn and get him to a mountaintop.

This book is very well-written and thoroughly researched. An incredible amount of history was included in these pages but it is still easy to read. You can read it cover to cover or pick fighters at random that intrigue you. Mike is a respected historian and this work shows exactly why. A worthy addition to the bookshelf of any boxing fan or historian.