The Damndest Radical: The Life and World of Ben Reitman, Chicago's Celebrated Social Reformer, Hobo King, and Whorehouse Physician

by Bruns, Roger A.

• ISBN13: 9780252069895
• ISBN10: 0252069897
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-04-01
• Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr

Summary

"Roger A. Bruns's immensely entertaining biography, now available in paperback, throws a spotlight on a colorful, influential, but long-obscured Chicago character. This is the true story of Ben Reitman, ally of hobos, personal physician to scores of Al Capone's prostitutes, author, womanizer, founder of Chicago's Hobo College, and longtime lover of Emma Goldman."

Author Biography

Roger A. Bruns is director of publications for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Prologue	1	(2)
``Following the Monkey''	3	(16)
Millionaire Hobo	19	(7)
The Banquet	26	(8)
King of the Hoboes	34	(17)
To the Streets	51	(7)
Emma	58	(12)
On Tour	70	(10)
``210''	80	(8)
Free Speech	88	(11)
Cradle of Liberty	99	(8)
Village Sex	107	(11)
San Diego	118	(15)
Ludlow	133	(12)
Billy Sunday	145	(8)
The Poison Banquet	153	(9)
Birth Control	162	(18)
Two Cities, Two Trials	180	(9)
The Great Repression	189	(13)
Hobo College	202	(13)
``Outcast Narratives''	215	(6)
Hobo Kingdom	221	(9)
Dill Pickle	230	(16)
Bughouse Square	246	(6)
In Mourning	252	(3)
Still the King	255	(11)
Twilight of Hobohemia	266	(7)
Antisyph	273	(9)
``Reveries at Sixty''	282	(3)
``Up from the Depths''	285	(10)
Notes	295	(16)
Hobo Glossary	311	(2)
Selected Bibliography	313	(8)
Index	321