Carl Clinton Van Doren (September 10, 1885 – July 18, 1950) was an American critic and biographer.

He and his younger brother Mark Van Doren (born 1894), were raised on the family farm.

[3] Van Doren's study The American Novel, published in 1921, is generally credited with helping to re-establish Herman Melville's critical status as first-rate literary master.

[5] In 1912, Van Doren married Irita Bradford, editor of the New York Herald Tribune book review.

Van Doren worked closely with Howard Henry Peckham on Secret History of the American Revolution (1941), editing documents from the Sir Henry Clinton (British Army Headquarters) Papers that revealed Benedict Arnold's treason during the American Revolutionary War.