Edward Rothstein (born October 16, 1952) is an American critic.
Rothstein holds a B.A. from Yale University (1973), an M.A. in English literature from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago (1994). In addition, Rothstein did graduate work in mathematics at Brandeis University. He was at the New York Times for a long time, but he took a buyout from the newspaper and joined the Wall Street Journal.
Rothstein was the cultural critic-at-large for The New York Times, particularly examining the reach and depth of museums, large and small, one by one. He has worked as a music critic for The New Republic and as the chief music critic for the Times.
Rothstein is a two-time winner of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for music criticism, and was given a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1991.