The Financier

The Financier (1912) is a novel by Theodore Dreiser. The first installment of Dreiser’s Trilogy of Desire, The Financier has endured as a classic of naturalist fiction and remains a powerful example of social critique over a century after its publication. Followed by The Titan (1914) and The Stoic (1947), The Financier captures the greed at the heart of the Gilded Age, a time when tycoons rose with total impunity to take over swaths of American industry. Based on the life of Charles Yerkes, an influential businessman who funded the development of railway systems in Chicago and London, The Financier is a masterpiece of twentieth century American literature that continues to resonate today. Born the son of a banker, Frank Cowperhood comes of age in a rapidly changing Philadelphia. Determined to make something at himself, he discovers his talent for purchasing goods at a low price in order to sell them for a profit to local stores. Eventually, he finds work at several local finance companies, gaining the trust of the local elite while enriching himself through dubious deals and schemes. Despite his young age, he marries a wealthy widow, cementing his status as a man of fortune. When he is caught up in an investigation into thefts from the city treasury, he is forced to rely on his hard-earned talent for grifting in order to keep himself out of prison. Through bribery, blackmail, and extortion—the means with which he made his way to the top—he attempts to lift himself from the depths of his own undoing. The Financier is a story of romance, greed, and betrayal that says as much about a single man as it does about the values of an entire society. This edition of Theodore Dreiser’s The Financier is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers. Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book. With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.