Taine shared a correspondence with the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who later referred to him in "Beyond Good and Evil" as "the first of living historians". He was also the subject of Stefan Zweig's doctoral thesis, "The Philosophy of Hippolyte Taine." Taine was also read by Peter Kropotkin, who described him as truly understanding the French Revolution, because he "studied the movements preceding the revolution of July 14," or as he quoted Taine himself, "I know of three hundred outbreaks before July 14."