On one level, An American Tragedy is the tale of the debasement and devastation of small-time, Clyde Griffiths, who relinquishes his life in the edgy quest for progress. On a more profound, progressively significant level, the novel speaks to a gigantic depiction of the general public whose qualities both shape Clyde's tasteless desire and seal his destiny: It is a superb portrayal of the brutal substances of American life and the clouded side of the American Dream. Unprecedented in extension and influence, distinctive in its feeling of discount human waste, constant in its rich sympathy, An American Tragedy remains as Theodore Dreiser's incomparable accomplishment. This book is three in one.