In his realistic depiction of the thwarted aspirations and unfulfilled hungers of the turn-of-the-century American underclass, Theodore Dreiser was a socially-conscious writer far ahead of his time. Dawn, the journalist-turned-novelist's brutally candid autobiography of his first nineteen years, was composed between 1912 and 1915, but withheld by Dreiser due to his misgivings about the potential impact of its frank revelations, daring even by today's standards, of adolescent sexuality. Encouraged by his preeminence in American letters at the time and by the more relaxed moral codes, he finally published it in 1931 (it was followed by Newspaper Days as the next chapter of his autobiography).

Critics immediately recognized the book as an American classic, comparing it to Rousseau's Confessions and The Education of Henry Adams. "Dawn is a story of growth", the New York Evening Post noted, "of the persistent spiritual and physical vitality of a man conquering despite all the accidents of economics and of personal 'chemistry' which tended to retard him".

The new Black Sparrow edition, complete with notes, index and appendices, makes available to the modern reader Dreiser's powerful and unforgettable account of a difficult childhood spent struggling to rise out of impoverished and sordid surroundings. It is a gripping tale indeed: the writer's father, a German immigrant traumatized by failure in his adopted land, dwindles to an embittered bigot. The large family is scattered around the Midwest. In Chicago, young Theodore washes dishes in a greasy spoon, cleans stoves in a rundown hardware store, counts freight cars in a railroad yard. An episode of petty crime teaches him a lesson about attempting to live beyond his means. Skeptical and pragmatic, he's nonetheless prey to continual hothouse dreams of frustrated romance as he pursues back-alley sexual adventures. Through all his experiences and hard times it is fascinating to watch the foundation of Dreiser's vivid artistic vision gradually being formed.