In November 1923, Max Ehrmann, the poet and author of the underground classic Desiderata, interviewed Theodore Dreiser, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. For two days they discussed the life of Paul Dresser (Dreiser's brother), the composer of On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away, one of the best-selling songs of the nineteenth century. When Dresser died, in 1906, aged forty-eight, his fame had faded and he was a penniless alcoholic. Ehrmann was determined to rehabilitate the image and memory of one of America's finest songwriters. Author and actor, Tim Dalgleish, explores the background to Ehrmann's quest, his relationship with Dreiser and the consequences of their meeting in Washington D.C. Included, in full, as 'end papers' in this volume, are the short biography The Life of Paul Dresser by Max Ehrmann and Theodore Dreiser's essay My Brother Paul, along with commentary and notes on Ehrmann's poems, A Prayer and Who Entereth Here, and other pieces of interest