The Titan [Hardcover]

Theodore Dreiser (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 16, 2004 | ISBN-10: 1432624172 | ISBN-13: 978-1432624170

1914. American author, outstanding representative of naturalism, whose novels depict real-life subjects in a harsh light. Dreiser's books were held to be amoral, and he battled throughout his career against censorship and popular taste. This is the second of a three book series, the first being The Financier, which continues the saga of Frank Cowperwood's quest for power and wealth through the use of financial acumen. The novel can also be viewed as a fictionalized history lesson of the tactics employed by the political and financial shakers and movers of that period. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 560 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (April 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1432624172
• ISBN-13: 978-1432624170
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,724,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Titan, August 10, 2001

By 

Melissa M Grosso (Avoca, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Titan (Textbook Binding)

Dreiser's second novel of a three book series, the first being The Financier, continues the saga of Frank Cowperwood's quest for power and wealth through the use of financial acumen found in only a relatively few individuals. While written as fiction, the novel is also a wonderful history lesson of the political structure and shenanigans employed by the political and financial mavens of that period. The characters and events of the late 19th century are brought to life through Dreiser's rich and descriptive prose. Relatively few authors are able to attain the degree of detail Dreiser devotes to his plot and characters, all the while employing word usage in such as a way as to create a virtual masterpiece.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read for Any Investor!, September 20, 2008

By 

Maxim Masiutin (Chisinau, Republic of Moldova) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Titan (Paperback)

This book is a must read for any investor. It makes clear that economic bubbles and financial crises have the same causes in all centuries: excessive debt, secured by speculative assets. Once the collateral falls in price, the lender requires to repay the debt or add more collateral. Since the borrower have used excessive leverage, he is unable to handle the debt and goes bankrupt, which leaves the lender with illiquid assets. Here are some examples:

1871: Frank Cowperwood have used stocks of Philadelphia's railroads as a collateral to huge loans, and when the Great Chicago Fire sparked a financial panic, he could neither repay the debt nor add more collateral, thus became insolvent.

1929: Widespread use of margin, of up to 90% was one of the reasons of the Great Depression. The investor could buy $100,000 worth of stock with $10,000 of own cash, borrowing the remaining $90,000 from the broker. The sharp drop of the stock price made the investors unable repay the debt, they became insolvent. The brokers were left with cheap stocks and became insolvent also.

2007: The dot-com bubble of 2000 contributed to the housing bubble. Once stocks fell, real estate became the primary outlet for the speculative frenzy that the stock market had unleashed. The families were buying houses when they knew that they cannot afford the mortgage for a long time, they were buying only to sell it to later at higher price. The rise in home prices was very attractive for construction industry: the number of newly built houses have significantly increased. When the prices of the houses have fallen due to the balance between the supply and demand, the speculators who run out of cash to repay the mortgages could no longer sell the houses at a price they bought. This essentially led homeowners to foreclosures. The great amount of foreclosures have caused huge losses to the lenders, made them insolvent or put under Government's conservatorship, when the shareholder value was diluted if not wiped out.

While the first book in the trilogy, "The Financier", is not a skilled picture of smallest traits of a human soul when it comes to love and feelings, this second book, "The Stoic", covers the human soul better, but not as good as in writings by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky (take "The Brothers Karamazov"). When it comes to the financial aspects, they are very well covered. I recommend you to read the whole trilogy: "The Financier", "The Titan" and "The Stoic".

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Titan A Good Read with A Social Warning, March 4, 2006

By 

James Tuck (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Titan (Paperback)

The Titan is an excellent sequel that, unlike many sequels, does not require the reader to have read its prequel, The Financier. Frank Cowperwood is a still-waters-run-deep kind of central character. Our story begins with his release from prison for racketeering, his descent onto Chicago with new bride-to-be, Aileen, and a stoic determination brewing behind those blue-gray eyes that, "somebody is gonna pay for this." That somebody is first the gas companies and then the newly emerging "Elevated" light rail lines of Chicago, which he proceeds to take over. Cowperwood is an immoral man. He cheats compulsively on his wife, pays off the city council and mayor to get franchise awards, and even contrives to bribe and blackmail the Illnois governor. This is not a character we are supposed to admire, in fact few of the characters we meet--Aileen, Mrs. Carter, Hosmer Hand, or Berenice Fleming--are heroic characters in the swashbuckling sense. But Dreiser warns us that human frailties are not without struggle, that lack of conscience does not always make it easy to inflict one's will and evil-doing on others, and that, most of all, in high society, money has its limits (at least in 1914). Be prepared to have a dictionary handy when reading Titan, many words that have long fallen out of favor are used extensively, including, "peregrination," "trig," "fag," "ermine," "bacchanal" and "phatasmagoria." Titan is a terrific read that draws on the history of Chicago as a burgeoning megalopolis.