Berlin Alexanderplatz:

Released from jail, Franz Biberkopf tries to live an honest life, but fate is against him as he enters the world of gangsters, thieves, and young nazis in 1920s Berlin.
From the Author
Alfred Döblin (1878-1957) studied medicine in Berlin and specialized in the treatment of nervous diseases. Along with his experiences as a psychiatrist in the workers' quarter of Berlin, his writing was inspired by the work of Holderlin, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche and was first published in the literary magazine Der Sturm. Associated with the Expressionist literary movement in Germany, he is now recognized as on of the most important modern European novelists. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.