Free and Other Stories

Summary

This collection presents eleven of Dreiser’s best tales, ranging from trenchant social analysis to penetrating character study.

One of Dreiser’s most powerful stories, “N****r Jeff” was occasioned when Dreiser was forced to witness a lynching, an experience that disturbed him deeply.

H. L. Mencken was a great champion of Dreiser during his lifetime, declaring that:

“He is a great artist, and that no other American of his generation left so wide and handsome a mark upon the national letters. American writing, before and after his time, differed almost as much as biology before and after Darwin. He was a man of large originality, of profound feeling, and of unshakable courage. All of us who write are better off because he lived, worked, and hoped.”