Past and Present

Name: Past and Present
Author: Thomas Carlyle

by Thomas Carlyle

Critique of industrial society contrasting medieval organic community with modern malaise

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About the author

Thomas Carlyle

Scottish essayist and historian who dominated Victorian intellectual life with his turbulent, apocalyptic prose. Sartor Resartus and The French Revolution established a new mode of polemical history. His later celebration of Great Men and his hostility to democracy made him increasingly controversial.

More by Thomas Carlyle

Sartor ResartusPhilosophical and satirical meditation on clothing, identity, and cultural history
The French RevolutionVivid narrative account of the French Revolution and its cataclysmic social upheaval
On Heroes, Hero-WorshipEssays on the universal significance of heroic figures across history and society
Frederick the GreatHistorical biography of Prussian king Frederick, exploring statecraft and military genius
On Heroes and Hero-WorshipEssays exploring the role of heroes and hero-worship in shaping human civilization