Latter-Day Pamphlets was a series of "pamphlets" published by Thomas Carlyle in 1850, in vehement denunciation of what he believed to be the political, social, and religious imbecilities and injustices of the period. The book, which at one point vindicated slavery, failed to gain the approval of the Victorian public, and is often seen as a negative turning point in Carlyle's career.
The best known of the essays in the collection is Hudson's Statue, an attack on plans to erect a monument to the bankrupted financier George Hudson, known as the "railway king". The essay expresses central theme of the book - the corrosive effects of populist politics and laissez faire capitalism. Carlyle also attacked the prison system, which he believed to be too liberal, and democratic parliamentary government. The imaginary figure of "Bobus", a corrupt sausage-maker turned politician, is used to epitomise the ways in which modern commercial culture saps the morality of society.
- ISBN10 3734013372
- ISBN13 9783734013379
- Publish Date 20 September 2018 (first published 1 July 2002)
- Publish Status Active
- Imprint Outlook Verlag
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 154
- Language English