On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History
Carlyle believed that history is not a tide of impersonal forces but a story written by extraordinary individuals. In this fiery 1841 volume, based on lectures delivered to Victorian audiences, he mounts a passionate defense of the Great Man theory: that prophets, poets, kings, and thinkers have fundamentally shaped civilization, and that the impulse to worship these figures is not superstition but recognition of genuine greatness. Ranging from Odin's Norse mythology to Mahomet's desert prophethood, from Oliver Cromwell to Napoleon, from Shakespeare's plays to Burns's verses, Carlyle constructs an impassioned taxonomy of heroism. He argues that hero-worship lies at the heart of human nature, that we recognize in certain individuals a quality that transcends the ordinary. Whether you agree with him or not, this book remains a bracing, argumentative, often beautiful meditation on what makes some people shape history while others are shaped by it. It is essential reading for anyone who has ever wondered whether individuals matter, or whether we are all merely leaves blown by the wind.
