Theodore Dreiser's position in American literature is undeniably secure, primarily based on his novels Sister Carrie (1900) and An American Tragedy (1925). However, in addition to Dreiser the novelist there is Dreiser the editor--a side of his career that has been mentioned by biographers but seldom discussed in depth. Dreiser's work as a magazine editor is worthy of fuller treatment, as it plays an important role in his eventual rise to critical acclaim.

Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser was born into a poor Catholic home vibrating with three boys and four girls in Terre Haute, Indiana, on 27 August 1871. His father, John Paul, had emigrated from Germany and toiled his way west to Sullivan, Indiana; his mother, Sarah Schanab, had met John Paul, who was working in a woolen mill, and they married in 1851. The family was financially comfortable until John Paul's woolen mill burned and he was later injured. Since John...