The Damnation of Theron Ware is widely considered to be one of the top 100 greatest books of all time. The Washington Post compares it to An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. The novel reveals much about turn-of-the-century provincial America, religious life, and the depressed state of intellectual and artistic culture in small towns. The story deals with the life of a Methodist pastor named Theron Ware who recently moved to small town in upstate New York. Theron has a number of experiences that cause him to begin to question the Methodist religion, his role as a priest and even the very existence of God. Edmund Wilson called this novel, "Frederic's most brilliant achievement."