“Ornament of the Mass” is a collection of articles by German sociologist and cultural theorist Siegfried Kracauer (1889–1966), united by the theme of contemporary mass art and technical innovations. His essays are devoted to both a general analysis of the influence of capitalism on all types of mass art (in the article that gives the collection its title) and its more specific manifestations. In addition to reflections on the connection between photography and human memory in the article “Photography,” the book contains essays on the typewriter, technical devices in a restaurant, and the transformation of poetry and creativity into soulless commerce.