Christopher (Kit) Lasch (June 1, 1932 – February 14, 1994) was a well-known American historian, moralist, and social critic.Mentored by William Leuchtenburg at Columbia University, Lasch was a professor at the University of Rochester. Lasch sought to use history as a tool to awaken American society to the pervasiveness with which major institutions, public and private, were eroding the competence and independence of families and communities.