Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) was one of the most influential authors of the nineteenth century. Eagerly studied at the highest level of intellectual society, his satirical essays and perceptive historical biographies caused him to be regarded for much of the Victorian period as a literary genius and eminent social philosopher.

After graduating from Edinburgh University in 1814, he published his first scholarly work on German literature in 1824, before finding literary success with his ground-breaking history of the French Revolution in 1837.

After falling from favour during the first part of the twentieth century, his work has more recently become the subject of scholarly re-examination. His introduction of German literature and philosophy into the British intellectual milieu profoundly influenced later philosophical ideas and literary studies. These volumes are reproduced from the 1896 Centenary Edition of his collected works. Volume 1 contains his satirical philosophical essay Sartor Resartus.

The greatest and most enduring of the prophets of the Victorian era, Thomas Carlyle was prescient about the importance of heroism in defining a nation's ambition and character. First published in 1841, his On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History established a foundation for historical studies that has lost none of its importance in an age of sports, photo-ops, and cable news.

From its first pages, the book recognizes the intimate connections between heroism and myth. Beginning with the legends of Odin, lord of the Nordic gods, Carlyle describes major forms that heroism can take: in god, poet, warrior, priest, prophet, and king.

His emphasis on the great works of great men was circumscribed by Victorian presumptions. Women are seldom mentioned and little attention is given to the achievements of cooperation. But Carlyle cracked through these limits in the best way he knew: to assert that people have choices and to clarify the role that heroism plays in guiding and inspiring them.