f being part in our current political and
ideological struggle.

Even though I found him wise, even though he confirmed my own
impressions from a rich and varied life, even though I considered that
our children and the people at large should benefit from his insights
into the innermost recesses of the political Man, I still felt it would
be best to find out why his work had been put on the index by the
French and largely forgotten by the Anglo-Saxon world. So I consulted
a contemporary French authority, Jean-Francois Revel who mentions Taine
works in his book, "La Connaissance Inutile." (Paris 1988). Revel notes
that a socialist historian, Alphonse Aulard methodically and dishonestly
attacked "Les Origines..", and that Aulard was specially recruited by
the University of Sorbonne for this purpose. Aulard pretended that Taine
was a poor historian by finding a number of errors in Taine's work. This
was done, says Revel, because the 'Left' came to see Taine's work as "a
vile counter-revolutionary weapon." The French historian Augustin Cochin
proved, however, that Aulard and not Taine had made the errors but by
that time Taine had been defamed and his works removed from the shelves
of the French universities.

Now Taine was not a professional historian. Perhaps this was as
well since most professional historians, even when conscientious and
accurate, rarely are in a position to be independent. They generally
work for a university, for a national public or for the ministry of
education and their books, once approved, may gain a considerable income
once millions of pupils are compelled to acquire these.

Taine initially became famous, not as a professional historian but as a
literary critic and journalist. His fame allowed him to sell his books
and articles and make a comfortable living without cow-towing to any
government or university. He wrote as he saw fit, truthfully, even
though it might displease a number of powerful persons.

Taine did not pretend to be a regular historian, but rather someone
enquiring into the history of Public Authorities and their supporters.
Through his comments he appears not only as a decent person but also as
a psychologist and seer. He describes mankind, as I know it from my
life in institutions, at sea and abroad in a large international
organization. He describes mankind as it was, as it was seen by Darwin
in 'THE EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTIONS IN MAN AND ANIMALS. Taine described
the human being