The French Revolution

Hippolyte Taine

"Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (21 April 1828 ? 5 March 1893) was a French critic and historian. He was the chief theoretical influence of French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism and one of the first practitioners of historicist criticism. Literary historicism as a critical movement has been said to originate with him."--Wikipedia.