I believe Rorty was Critical Theory yes. But honestly, it has been a long time. I got the PhD in Educational Philosophy and then worked as a Library Cataloger. So I read all these subjectivist and existentialist and then worked in probably the most non-subjective and non existential area there is in academia.
That said, I always enjoyed reading Rorty because, unlike Heidegger and Dewey his points were clear and well reasoned. He also didn’t seem to inject personal politics into his writings or if he did I didn’t notice. Even when I disagreed with him I could appreciate the argument. His book “Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature” was a pleasure to read and highly recommended.
A pretty good overview of the growth of Post Modernism can be found in the works of the late Francis Schaeffer. Although he puts an evangelical Christian spin on it he provides a pretty good summary of the development of post modernism even for a non-Christian.
Try his book “How Should We Then Live” I don’t think it is in print so try a used book store. This book was also produced into a series of films and is available on You Tube for free though they are a bit dry.
https://youtu.be/Z0Hr0RLHxnI?list=PL966B5BE4DC18D06C
You deserve a medal for all of that reading. After finally arriving at Scholasticism, I lost what little patience I had for modern philosophy. I read several of Copleston’s volumes in his “History of Philosophy,” which dealt with more modern philosophy. They were readable, but they’re not the same as primary sources.