Theodore Dreiser, a prominent American author and journalist, was born on August 27, 1871, in the rural town of Terre Haute, Indiana. He grew up in a family of Christian fundamentalists, an experience that shaped many themes in his writing. Dreiser modelled some of the characters in his novels on people he knew in his own life. The title character of Sister Carrie (1900), for instance, resembled Dreisers sister Emma, and Clyde Griffiths of An American Tragedy largely resembled Dreiser himself. Dreiser attended Indiana University from 1889 to 1890 and then left formal education to enter the world of work. He worked as a reporter for the Globe in Chicago and for the Globe-Democrat and Republic in St Louis, then as a freelance writer and editor. However, life was hard for Dreiser and he became disillusioned with the American Dream. ...