Rating: 
Summary: Mass Man Missive
Review: Most reviewers seem to see this book as a reaction to the rise of fascistic and nationalistic tyrannies of Mr. Ortega y Gasset's day. Fascism is a tyranny of the bourgeois. And though a tyranny is a tyranny is a tyranny, the bourgeois were the minority whom the author claimed were the progenitors and preservers of European civilization. (And for those who feel that Revolt of the Masses is Euro-centric, well you are right. That was his target audience; just read the second to last paragraph. But so what. That complaint is like denouncing the Bible as being biased towards Christians.) Additionally, the fascists, though thuggish and violent in their actions, at least made a pretense to their past and heritage (a la Rome). A far greater representation of mass man is found in the socialistic and communistic nations, then and now. Communism makes no appeal to the heritage of civilization but instead seeks to separate itself via Revolution. Additionally, communism is not a revolution of the bourgeoisie, but against it. What could be more mass man than that? In this I wish to make no defence of fascism, not in the least. But rather to form a distinction between the two and to note, sadly and a little fearfully, that though 99% of us agree that fascism is a dangerous counter to civilization, there are far too many proponents of communism still swaying the opinions of mass man for us to feel comfortable. All in all this book is a good warning to the defenders and partakers of Western Civilization and has not, in any way, become dated by the passing of the fascistic states of Europe. Danger still abounds.
Rating: 
Summary: The Revolt of the Mass
Review: The first thing I should say is that this is not light reading. With that said, read it anyway. Gasset wrote something as contemporary today as it was in the 1920s and 30s. Operating on the premise that we have seen since Thucydides, that the mass of citizens, when unchecked does damage, does not consider the consequences of its actions, its demands, its lifestyle without understanding or thinking about the system of civilisation which makes their relatively free and prosperous lives possible."It is false to say that history cannot be foretold," says Ortega. Obviously, since this book is equally prescient about the Fascist rallies of the 1930s and the youth rebellion of the 1960s. Perhaps in light of the 20th Century, we should look back at this philosopher from its dawn and see that Gasset saw the fundamental problem of the next century (incorporating the majority into the political and cultural realms when they had been absent throughout history) and we failed to listen to his warning.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've ever read
Review: This is a surpassingly good book. Its prose is stunningly lucid and concise. Its analysis of the "mass man" is so penetrating and insightful as to be almost superhuman. Its predictions of the rise of Naziism and Fascism, made decades before they actually occurred, were uncannily prescient. Its explanations of the factors underlying modern political trends were so cogent and forceful as to require assent.
Overall, one of the best books I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Book.
Review: While Ortega Y Gasset is somewhat inaccurate about Fascism (as it applied to Italy and German National Socialism -- not Spanish), it nonetheless is a compelling book that drops a hard kick in the crotch of all "Demo-Fraud" lovers like 99.9% of our "loved" politicians and 95% of the human estate. A good book, if you want to know why you're a sheep, just like everyone else!
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