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.