Social upheaval in early twentieth-century Europe is the historical setting for this seminal study by the Spanish philosopher Jos?Ortega y Gasset of the "mass man"?he phenomenon of mass culture that more than any other factor stamps the character of modern life.Continuously in print since 1932, Ortega's analysis of Western culture as sinking to its lowest common denomenator and drifting toward chaos brought its author international fame and has remained one of the most influential books of our time.