Why are The Financier and The Titan important examples of business novels?

The Financier (1912) and The Titan (1914) are considered significant examples of the business novel because they provide what are likely the most meticulously researched and documented studies of high finance found in first-rate fiction.1

As the first two volumes of the Trilogy of Desire, these works are based on the life of the late-19th-century American transportation magnate Charles T. Yerkes, fictionalized as the protagonist Frank Algernon Cowperwood. The novels are important for their detailed portrayal of the intersection between amoral business dealings—such as the plotting of monopolistic coups in Philadelphia and Chicago—and the protagonist's complex personal and erotic life.21

Reflecting Theodore Dreiser's commitment to naturalism, these books illustrate his philosophical belief that the race is to the swift and the battle to the strong. Ultimately, the novels serve as a critique of materialism, depicting a character who, despite his ruthless pursuit of success and power, remains unfulfilled and whose life is ultimately portrayed as meaningless.321