Tragic Sense of Life is a book of philosophical reflection which considers the nature and transience of humanity, the trials - physical, societal and emotional - of existence, together with death and the afterlife. A superb treatise whereby the author's intellect is unleashed upon a variety of questions, this text combines the passionate liveliness found in Unamuno's fictional efforts with a thought-provoking gravitas cast upon life and living. The towering ambitions of man are shown to pale in the face of limitations and reality: immortality, the greatest aspiration of all, is but an impossibility. The title, in alluding to tragedy, foretells the author's argument that life and human nature have a strong streak of absurdity. In the final chapter, the author compares the classic story of Don Quixote - the man whose mad ambition led him to ride his horse in four directions at once - with everyday human life.

Thorstein Veblen's groundbreaking treatise upon the evolution of the affluent classes of society traces the development of conspicuous consumption from the feudal Middle Ages to the end of the 19th century. Beginning with the end of the Dark Ages, Veblen examines the evolution of the hierarchical social structures. How they incrementally evolved and influenced the overall picture of human society is discussed. Veblen believed that the human social order was immensely unequal and stratified, to the point where vast amounts of merit are consequently ignored and wasted. Veblen draws comparisons between industrialization and the advancement of production and the exploitation and domination of labor, which he considered analogous to a barbarian conquest happening from within society. The heavier and harder labor falls to the lower members of the order, while the light work is accomplished by the owners of capital: the leisure class.