"A bestseller when it was first published in 1925, An American Tragedy is the culmination of Theodore Dreiser's fictional art. Taking as his point of departure a notorious murder case of 1906 - one among the many that he studied in preparation for the novel - Dreiser immersed himself in the social background of the crime to produce a book that is a remarkable work of reportage, a monumental study of character, and a jeremiad against the delusions and inequities of American society.".

"Few novels have undertaken to track so relentlessly the process by which an ordinary young man becomes capable of committing a ruthless murder, and the further process by which social and political forces come into play after his arrest. In Clyde Griffiths, the impoverished, restless offspring of a family of street preachers, Dreiser created an unforgettable portrait of a man whose social insecurities and naive dreams of self-betterment conspire to pull him toward an act of unforgivable violence.

The murder that he commits on a quiet lake in the Adirondacks is an extended scene of overwhelming impact, and it is followed by equally gripping episodes of his arrest and trial. Throughout, Dreiser elevates the most mundane aspects of what he observes into emotionally charged, often harrowing symbols."--BOOK JACKET.