Titan

Frank Cowperwood arrives in Chicago possessed by a single, devastating hunger: to own the city's streets themselves. This towering sequel to The Financier follows the ruthless streetcar magnate as he maneuvers through political corruption, financial warfare, and societal contempt, building an empire with the raw appetite of a man who refuses to accept limits. Dreiser renders American capitalism as a kind of primal force, neither moral nor immoral, simply vast and hungry like its protagonist. Yet the novel is equally a study of what desire costs. As Cowperwood's fortune rises, his marriage to Aileen crumbles under the weight of his endless infidelities, and he finds himself drawn to the young Berenice Fleming. The ending finds him triumphant in wealth yet denied the ultimate prize, surrounded by beauty but hollow. Here is the great American novel about the terrible price of getting exactly what you want.