Past and Present

By Thomas Carlyle

Book Overview

Thomas Carlyle's "Past and Present" offers a powerful social commentary on 19th-century Great Britain during the height of the Industrial Revolution. This meticulously prepared edition delves into the social conditions of the Victorian era, examining the stark contrasts between the idealized past and the pressing realities of the present.

Carlyle's work, rooted in historical analysis and sharp observation, explores themes of social reform and the societal impact of industrialization. A seminal work of social history, "Past and Present" provides valuable insights into the challenges and complexities of a rapidly changing world, revealing a society grappling with poverty, inequality, and the search for meaning in an age of unprecedented progress.

This edition presents Carlyle's enduring observations on British society, making it a vital resource for those interested in European history, social science, and the profound transformations of the 19th century. Explore the social fabric of a nation on the cusp of modernity through the eyes of a keen and influential observer.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1022933248
• ISBN13: 9781022933248
• Release Date: March 2025
• Publisher: Anson Street Press
• Length: 262 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Salvation for the Western World

A review of Carlyle's Past and Present written in Carlylese (he's much better at it than I am...)This book could change the whole Western world, if only men would read it, and believe it! -We could have several Utopias springing up in North American and throughout Europe within the space of five years! So here you are. In this work, Carlyle criticizes the social, economic, and political arrangements in England of the 1840s. I will not bother to explain what those arrangements were; I will only say that his criticism is as relevant to us now as it was to the people of his own time. My friends, very simply put, then as now, we have 'parted company with the eternal inner Facts of this Universe, and followed the outer transient Appearances thereof...[we] have forgotten the right Inner True, and taken up with the Outer Sham-true.' Yes Carlyle's English is a bit strange, but try not to be distracted by outer appearances, that is his point! In many aspects of our Western life, we have forgotten what is true and at the heart of the matter, and taken up with superficial nonsense. Let's begin with economics. In Carlyle's day, the Industrialists were trying their damnedest to figure out a way to make the production of cotton cheaper. This is a sham! Instead, figure out a way, with all your cotton cloth, to 'cover all the backs of England.' How like our present day Global Economists, wracking their brains trying to get the poor fools of the Third World to buy our products. Why don't they stop a moment and see if everyone at home is yet sufficiently provided for. Do your own fellow citizens need what you are producing, or have they enough of it, need they some other product which it is in your power to produce? And what is this of Advertising? Carlyle remembers a hat-maker who built a seven-foot hat of wood and plaster; wheeled it about the streets of London to attract customers to his shop. Does this improve the quality or utility of your hats, man, or does it only fool people into thinking that you have done honest work? I begin to think that more money is made in Advertising in these times of ours than in any other enterprise. What are our cities but places to tack up Billboards, to display Clothes in shop windows, to produce commercials for television, all to fool people into buying rubbish they don't need. Don't Advertise, Just Work! Religion? Why all the silly ceremonies, the controversies, feuding between different sects. Do we need absurd ceremonies and idolatrous rituals to believe in a Divine Power? True Religion is 'Moral Conscience, Inner Light' 'All Religion [is] here to remind us, better or worse, of what we already know, better or worse, of the quite infinite difference between a Good man, and a Bad, to bid us love infinitely the one, abhor infinitely the other, to strive infinitely to be the one, and not the other.' A Religious man is he who makes his whole life an appeal to Heaven, to Divine Justice, to Goodness, and who cannot be happy if he

The Best Carlyle- As lucid as Acid

Widely known is the lucid and acid historic sense of Thomas Carlyle. This is what you will find in this book. More accessible than the monumental 'Sartor Resartus', but at the same high level. I strongly recomend that book as a way to enter into the vivid world of Carlyle.