Sister of the Road: The Autobiography of Box Car Bertha

Hobo jungles, bughouses, whorehouses, Chicago's main stem, IWW meeting halls, skid rows and open freight cars - these were the haunts of Bertha Thompson. This autobiography recounts one hell of a rugged woman's hard-living depression-era saga of misadventures with pimps, hopheads, murderers, yeggs, wobblies and anarchists. Boxcar Bertha, as told to Dr. Ben Reitman, himself notorious as a whorehouse physician, Hobo King, lover and colleague of Emma Goldman, is fascinating history written from the bottom, the sort that the stultifying fairytales used in classrooms always cut out. A strong dose of the real thing. Kathy Acker contributes an introduction to this underground classic.