Carl Clinton Van Doren (September 10, 1885 - July 18, 1950) was a U.S. critic and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer. He was the brother of Mark Van Doren.

Born in Hope, Vermilion County, Illinois, Van Doren was the son of a country doctor and was raised on the family farm. He earned a doctorate from Columbia University in 1911 and continued to teach there until 1930. He was a world federalist and once said, "It is obvious that no difficulty in the way of world government can match the danger of a world without it"[1].

From 1912 to 1935, Van Doren was married to Irita Bradford Van Doren, editor of the New York Herald Tribune book review.

Van Doren died in Torrington, Connecticut on July 18, 1950.