Theodore Dreiser was an American author best known for naturalistic books like Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy. After his first novel, Sister Carrie, was published, he suffered from depression, anxiety, exhaustion, and other nervous disorders collectively called neurasthenia. From 1903-1904 he was unable to write because of his mental condition and lived in poverty. His brother paid for him to go to a sanitarium, and he later attempted to regain his health by getting a job as a laborer for a railroad. An Amateur Laborer is the unfinished manuscript he wrote about his experiences during this part of his life.

This is not really a book for the casual reader as it's more geared toward serious literary scholars. Since the manuscript itself is unfinished, it's not that good, but that's not really the point; it's value lies in the fact that it opens a window into how the author's life experiences influenced his novels and philosophy. The book includes a substantial introduction that summarizes Dreiser's life so well that reading the manuscript becomes pretty repetitive. It also includes some fragments that Dreiser never got around to working into the narrative, photographs of relevant people and locations, and extensive annotations and footnotes. I really like Dreiser's fiction and I do have a degree in English, so this was an interesting read for me, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't really interested in the author. ( )