b' About the Book: An American Tragedy\n\n An American Masterpiece Clyde Griffiths finds his social-climbing aspirations\nand love for a rich and beautiful debutante threatened when his lower-class\npregnant girlfriend gives him an ultimatum. \n\nAbout the Author: Theodore Dreiser \n\n Theodore Dreiser was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, on August 27, 1871. After a\npoor and difficult childhood, Dreiser broke into newspaper work in Chicago in\n1892. A successful career as a magazine writer in New York during the late 1890s\nwas followed by his first novel, Sister Carrie (1900). When this work made\nlittle impact, Dreiser published no fiction until Jennie Gerhardt in 1911. There\nthen '