Christopher Lasch: Critic of liberalism, historian of its discontents

Abstract

This article sketches the intellectual biography of irascible social critic and historian Christopher Lasch. Even though Lasch was always a critic of liberalism, and a historian of liberalism's discontents, his political commitments shifted rather dramatically during the course of his life (1932–1994). The essay argues that as Lasch's commitments shifted – from being an outspoken leftist critic of Cold War liberalism to a self-styled populist moralist, denounced by feminists for his defense of the traditional family – so too did his historical approach, often in quite fruitful ways. Lasch's intellectual trajectory serves as a canvas for theorizing about the inherently political nature of historical writing.