The Titan Author:Theodore Dreiser The theme of The Titan is one man's drive for absolute power. Power ruthlessly pursued, power blindly worshiped. Power over a business, a cite, a life. The setting is Chicago and New York in the age of the Robber Barons; the protagonist is Frank Cowperwood, already wealthy, but out to build a financial empire vast enough to satisfy his appeti... more »te for what he thinks is success. The novel traces the career of this driven man as he seeks his elusive goal - only to find his marriage destroyed, his mistresses loveless, his mansions no better than mausoleums, his every triumph a hollow defeat. A powerful study of spiritual emptiness amid material opulence, The Titan represents Dreiser's social vision at its most piercing, his narrative vigor at its highest. It is a major contribution of a novelist who forced Americans to look without blinders both at their society and at their very selves.« less