Sister Carrie has been called the “greatest of all American urban novels, and a hallmark of American literature.” 18-year-old Carrie Meeber, a young country girl, moves to the big city where she starts realizing her own American Dream, first as a mistress to men she perceives as superior, and later becoming a famous actress.

The chronicle of her rise from obscurity to fame, and the effects of her progress on the men who use her and are used in turn, aroused a storm of controversy and debate upon its publication in 1900. The author's groundbreaking portrait of a heroine who violates the prevailing moral code outraged some critics and elated others, as Sister Carrie engaged in “illicit sexual relationships” without suffering any apparent consequences.

THEODORE DREISER (1871-1945) was an American novelist and journalist most famous for his brilliant novels Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy.

“He is a great artist, and no other American of his generation left so wide and handsome a mark upon the national letters. He was a man of such large originality, of such profound feeling, and unshakable courage, that all of us who write are better off because he lived, worked, and hoped.”

—H.L. Mencken