The Essential Thomas Carlyle

The Essential Thomas Carlyle contains: Signs of the Times, Carlyle's essay against the "mechanical age" and the rise of the machines, making the argument that the “Soul-politic” is being neglected while the “Body-politic” is “more than ever worshipped”; Chartism, his major example of the "Condition of England Question"—a phrase he had coined to refer to the "two nations" theme, or the division of society in England and the poverty of the majority; On Heroes and Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History, six lectures that communicate his powerful theory that history can be largely explained by the impact of “great men” or heroes—highly authoritative individuals who, due to either their charisma, intelligence, wisdom, or political prowess, employ their power in a way that has a pivotal historical impact; and Latter-Day Pamphlets, a series of pamphlets that represent his passionate criticism of what he believed to be the political, social and religious absurdities and corruptions of his time.