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 as he was and is and had the courage to tell the French about themselves, their ancient rulers, and the men of the Revolution, even if it went against the favorable opinion so many of his countrymen had of this terrible period.  His understanding of our evolution, of mankind and of the evolution of society did not find favor with men who believed that they in the socialist ideology had found the solution to all social ills.  Only recently has science begun to return to Darwin in order to rediscover the human being as Taine knew him.  You can find Taine’s views of humanity confirmed in Robert Wright’s book ‘the moral animal.’ (Why we are the way we are.)

Taine had full access to the files of the French National archives and these and other original documents.  Taine had received a French classical education and, being foremost among many brilliant men, had a capacity for study and work which we no longer demand from our young.  He accepted Man and society, as they appeared to him, he described his findings without compassion for the hang-ups of his prejudiced countrymen.  He described Man as a gregarious animal living for a brief spell in a remote corner of space, whose different cultures and nations had evolved haphazardly in time, carried along by forces and events exceeding our comprehension, blindly following their innate drives.  These drives were followed with cunning but rarely with far-sighted wisdom.  Taine, the prophet, has more than ever something to tell us.  He warned his countrymen against themselves, their humanity, and hence against their fears, anxieties, greed, ambitions, conceit and excessive imagination.  His remarks and judgments exhort us to be responsible, modest and kind and to select wise and modest leaders.  He warns us against young hungry men’s natural desire to mass behind a tribune and follow him onwards, they hope, along the high road to excitement, fame, power and riches.  He warns us against our readiness to believe in myth and metaphysics, demonstrating how Man will believe anything, even the most mystical or incomprehensible religion or ideology, provided it is preached by his leaders.  History, as seen by Taine, is one long series of such adventures and horrors and nowhere was this more evident than in France before, during and after the Revolution in 1789.