Donaldson, Will.

Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser was born in Terre Haute, IN, on Aug. 27, 1871; briefly attended the Univ. of IN; held a succession of newspaper and magazine jobs in Chicago, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and NY; awarded the Merit Medal for fiction by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, 1944; publications include: Sister Carrie (1900), Jennie Gerhardt (1911), The financier (1912), The titan (1914), Twelve men (1919), and An American tragedy (1925); after 1925, he ventured into social commentary and political analysis, joining the Communist Party shortly before his death; died in Hollywood, CA, on Dec. 28, 1945.