- Paperback: 566 pages
- Publisher: Nabu Press (February 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1144703891
- ISBN-13: 978-1144703897
- Product Dimensions: 1.9 x 2.5 x 0.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 998 g
- Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Oddly Intriguing,
By
This review is from: Titan (Mass Market Paperback)
I read Sister Carrie first. That was a GREAT book. Read "Titan" second. Not so impressed. I understand that this is the sequel to his book "The Financier". The fact that I hadn't read the Financier didn't bother me at all. Frankly, I have no intention of reading the Financier."Titan" is the second part of the life story of Frank Cowperwood. Cowperhood is a kind of prime-time soap opera type figure: a tycoon who can't keep it in his pants. The book is equal parts of economic machinations (which take place in the exciting world of public utilities in turn of the century Chicago) and soap opera style emotional histronics. This was no doubt racy stuff at the turn of the centuury. Actually, it's still pretty racy stuff now. Cowperwood is a serial cheater (on his wife Aileen) and Dreiser is hardly apologetic. The fact that Cowperwood can't keep it in his pants leads him to boff (can I say that on Amazon?) the wife and daughter, respectively of two of this partners. This, in turn, sets up the the central conflict in the book betweeen Cowperwood and the "quadrumvirate" of tycoons which will stop at nothing (even advocacy of socialism) to defeat Cowperwood. The central story line involves Cowperwood and his attempts to monopolize the street car concession in Chicago. While Titan has some great scenery and an interesting supporting cast, the book is more "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" then "Atlas Shrugged"(seriously, those are the two books this book MOST reminded me of.) Not sure why anybody would read this, but then again, I did.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews) 17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Titan,
By Melissa M Grosso - Published on Amazon.com
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!,
By Maxim Masiutin - Published on Amazon.com
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,
By James Tuck - Published on Amazon.com
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.
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