Last Updated on July 29, 2019, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 127

• Aristotle's Poetics offers a descriptive definition of ancient Greek tragedy. For some theorists, it is the ultimate critical authority on the nature of tragedy.
• Eugene O'Neill, in Long Day's Journey into Night (1956), comes as close as Miller does to writing a modern, family tragedy.
• An important sociological study, The Lonely Crowd (1969), by David Reisman, suggests that modern America has lost the capacity for guilt (necessary to tragedy).
• Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations (1991, revised edition), by Christopher Lasch, is a more recent look at American culture and examines the changing cultural landscape.
• Stuart D. Brandes's study, Warhogs: A History of War Profits in America (1997), is a thorough history of wartime profiteering in the United States, both before and since World War II.