Hippolyte Taine
Hippolyte Taine's Book(1)
The Ancient Regime
History Why should we fetch Taine’s work up from its dusty box in the basement of the national library? First of all because his realistic views of our human nature, of our civilization and of socialism as well as his dark premonitions of the 20th century were proven correct. Secondly because we may today with more accuracy call his work: “The Origins of Popular Democracy and of Communism.” His lucid analysis of the current ideology remains as interesting or perhaps even more interesting than when it was written especially because we cannot accuse him of 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-François 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 You might like
History of the Peloponnesian War
Thucydides
The History of the Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:
All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.
A monumental work unsurpassed for its brilliant description, accuracy, and penetrating insights, Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War is a spectacular eyewitness report of the war between Greece’s two most powerful city-states, Athens and Sparta, as it unfolded during the fifth century B.C.
The first recorded political and moral analysis of a nation’s war policies, the History is a tragic story of virtue, ambition, and failed deterrence. All aspects of the conflict—from the battlefield strategies and the political landscape to the peoples’ thoughts and feelings as the long war dragged on—are presented in startlingly vivid detail.
From the treachery of Alcibiades and the disastrous invasion of Sicily to the plague that devastated Athens and Pericles’ famous funeral oration, Thucydides has written more than a mere account of war. His History is nothing less than a classic Greek drama about the rise and fall of Athens. More than two thousand years have passed since the History was written, but its impact on modern politics, military strategy, and foreign relations has been timeless.
Donald Lateiner teaches Greek, Latin, Ancient History and Comparative Folklore in the Humanities-Classics department at ohio Wesleyan University. His scholarship focuses on Homer and Herodotus, and he has published a book on each. He also researches nonverbal behaviors in ancient literature. 
