“The Great Pioneer of National Socialist Philosophy”?: Carlyle and Twentieth-Century Totalitarianism

Authoritarian leadership: Is democracy in peril?

“…17.Sorensen, 2012, 57) Carlyle’s position is complex. He has a nuanced reading of history, refusing to blandly accept religious views in which earthly events are related to an eternal plan, divine fulfilment, or in dire times, divine retribution.…”

“…21.Sorensen, 2013, 41) David Sorensen admits the Fascist critique of Carlyle but also insists on his value as an historian: ‘If Carlyle is to be redeemed for the twenty-first century, then his salvation lies not in his prophecies, but in his histories, in which he dramatized the vicious reality of political religions’ (Sorensen, 2012). Sorensen points to Herbert Grierson’s comments on Carlyle, which first drew attention to the latter’s attraction for fascist leadership (Grierson, 1930).…”