New Historicism became a dominant force in literary
criticism in the 1980's, specifically in 1982, when Steven Greenblatt
first introduced the term "New Historicism" in an article
that he edited.
The literary idea was lead by Steven Greenblatt.
The earliest New Historical criticisms focused on
Renaissance or Romantic literature.
This type of critical analysis has become more and
more difficult to utilize with postmodern literature, as history and
literature have become skewed and biased.
