American historian Carl Lotus Becker (1873-1945) was a proponent of the doctrine of historical relativism. He is best known for his book "The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth Century Philosophers."Carl...
Read more
Carl Becker was a historian of history as well as a historian of the United States, and his place in American history rests as much on his capacity to raise provocative questions about the nature of h...
Read more
In the following essay, Lerner praises The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers but states that Becker's central argument in this work is weakened by his decision to ignore the ...
Read more
In the following essay, McNeill presents a personal view of Becker as a teacher and historian.
Forty-four years have passed since I came here to study history under Carl Becker; and returning to le...
Read more
In the following essay, Nelson sees Becker's irony as a response to the impossibility of entirely accepting or rejecting the idea of social progress.
Carl Becker's lifelong commitment...
Read more
In his introduction to Freedom and Responsibility in the American Way of Life, Sabine notes that Becker consistently questioned democracy, aiming for an "idealism without illusions and a realis...
Read more
In the following essay, Gottschalk argues that Freedom and Responsibility in the American Way of Life, Becker's final work, shows his lifelong cynicism to be tempered with optimism.
In sever...
Read more
In the following essay, Smith shows Becker to have been a writer whose concerns were as much literary as they were historical and philosophical.
If it be said that politics has nothing to do with ...
Read more
In the following essay, Bowen criticizes The Heavenly City for its assumption that contemporary philosophical fashions establish the final validity of beliefs of an earlier age.
Carl Becker'...
Read more
In the following essay, Gershoy provides an overview of The Heavenly City in the context of Becker's earlier and later work, emphasizing Becker's strong belief in democracy.
Of all of...
Read more
In the following essay, Gay concludes that Becker is ultimately unsuccessful in arguing his central points in The Heavenly City.
Carl Becker's The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Phi...
Read more
In the following essay, Penick examines ideological inconsistencies and conflicts in Becker's works.
Ours is a culture which once placed a high premium on the ideal of spiritual unity. Autho...
Read more
In the following essay, Klein discusses Becker's skepticism with respect to the possibility of arriving at an objective view of historical events.
Fifty-three years ago, Carl Becker delivere...
Read more
Carl Lotus Becker
Carl (Lotus) Becker
Critical Essay by Max Lerner
