Other editions of book The Financier

In Philadelphia, Frank Cowperwood, whose father is a banker, makes his first money passing by an auction sale, he successfully bids for seven cases of Castile soap, which he sells to a grocer the same day with a profit of over 70 percent. Later, he gets a job in Henry Waterman & Company, and leaves it for Tighe & Company. He also marries an affluent widow, in spite of his young age. Over the years, he starts misusing municipal funds with the aid of the City Treasurer.

A master of gritty naturalism, Theodore Dreiser explores the corruption of the American dream in The Financier. Frank Cowperwood, a fiercely ambitious businessman, emerges as the very embodiment of greed as he relentlessly seeks satisfaction in wealth, women, and power. As Cowperwood deals and double-deals, betrays and is in turn betrayed, his rise and fall come to represent the American success story stripped down to brutal realities-a struggle for spoils without conscience or pity. Dreiser's 1912 classic remains an unsparing social critique as well as a devastating character study of one of the most unforgettable American businessmen in twentieth-century literature.

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The Financier is the first volume of the Trilogy of Desire, which details the early life of Frank Cowperwood, the son of a low-level banker, who realizes his skill at finances and business. Set in 18th century Philadelphia, the book follows Frank as he amasses a large fortune through stock speculation and purchases of shares in the growing street railway industry. He marries an older woman and has two children and uses his new found wealth to become socially prominent. Things however take a turn for the worst when he has an affair with Aileen Butler, the daughter of a politically prominent Irish industrialist. It is also discovered that Frank engaged in some legally questionable acts during the period after the great Chicago fire and is abandoned by his political allies. He is further put on trial for larceny and is convicted and serves 13 months in prison before being pardoned. From this low point, he sets about to recoup his lost wealth. Will he be fortunate once more? Or will his fate take him on a different course?

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