No Regrets : Dr Ben Reitman and the Women Who Loved Him
Carpenter has produced a book that gets at the life of Ben Reitman from a more personal connection than the standard biography. She uses his voluminous correspondence in an effort, as she says to separate "Ben Reitman the man, from my father, the family legend" ( p.3). Readers interested in sociology, in urban history, and in public health will benefit from this work, but because the work is centered on Ben's relationships with women, those interested in psychology, gender studies, and women's studies will find more substance.  --Paul A. Buelow, H-net, June,1999Mecca Reitman Carpenter's "No Regrets" is a wonderful introduction to one of the most colorful social and political activists of the century.  I found her story of a daughter coming to terms with her notorious father to be extremely moving and enriching. --Harold Ramis, movie producer and actorMecca Reitman Carpenter's memoir of her father is beautiful and moving and offers a personal portrait of early Chicago through the life of her father.   --Studs Terkel, authorThe irrepressible, irresponsible, irresistible and impossible Dr. Ben L. Reitman leaps off these wonderful pages as an American original.  With humor, honesty, and grace, Mecca Reitman Carpenter has mapped the amazing life of a father she barely knew, drawing skillfully on his long-buried intimate correspondence with many female lovers including her own mother.  Here is a courageous and engaging portrait, not only of an unforgettable Chicago character, but of the messiness and inventiveness of love.   --Alice Wexler, author of Emma Goldman, An Intimate Life.There was so much pain, confusion, idealism, brilliance and destructiveness in the life you recorded.  The puzzle of it lingered and troubled me long after I had finished the book. You have been forced to journey through a tumult of feelings in the course of your discoveries and have arrived at peaceful mature love, with knowledge, of your father.  That is quite an accomplishment, and one to which we all should aspire, especially in our closest relationships.  --Danette Cook Adamson, Librarian, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona