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AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY
by Theodore Dreiser

8220;Dusk 8212; of a summer night. And the tall walls of the commercial heart of an American city of perhaps 400,000 inhabitants 8212; such walls as in time may linger as a mere fable.8221; So begins Theodore Dreiser8217;s classic novel. It was once labelled the 8220;worst-written great novel in the world8221;. The American Tragedy, first published in 1925, has withstood the test of time and stands out as one of the most enduring must-reads on that well-stocked bookshelf devoted to the souring of the American Dream. Based on an actual criminal case, the book tracks the life and travails of Clyde Griffiths, the son of a preacher later put on trial for murder. The screen adaptation, A Place in the Sun, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift, proved to be equally popular and won a bagful of Oscars.