Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Denial [Movie Tie-in]: Holocaust History on Trial
    Denial [Movie Tie-in]: Holocaust History on Trial
    Denial [Movie Tie-in]: Holocaust History on Trial
    Audiobook13 hours

    Denial [Movie Tie-in]: Holocaust History on Trial

    Written by Deborah E. Lipstadt

    Narrated by Kate Udall

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    In her acclaimed 1993 book Denying the Holocaust, Deborah Lipstadt called David Irving, a prolific writer of books on World War II, “one of the most dangerous spokespersons for Holocaust denial.” The following year, after Lipstadt’s book was published in the United Kingdom, Irving led a libel suit against Lipstadt and her publisher. She prepared her defense with the help of a first-rate team of solicitors, historians, and experts, and a dramatic trial unfolded.

    Denial, previously published as History on Trial, is Lipstadt’s riveting, blow- by-blow account of this singular legal battle, which resulted in a formal denunciation of a Holocaust denier that crippled the movement for years to come. Lipstadt’s victory was proclaimed on the front page of major news- papers around the world, such as The Times (UK), which declared that “history has had its day in court and scored a crushing victory.”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateSep 6, 2016
    ISBN9780062661982
    Author

    Deborah E. Lipstadt

    Deborah E. Lipstadt is Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies and director of the Institute for Jewish Studies at Emory University. She is the author of Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory.

    Related to Denial [Movie Tie-in]

    Related audiobooks

    Jewish History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Related categories

    Reviews for Denial [Movie Tie-in]

    4/5

    88 ratings11 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Engrossing. I recommend this book which reflects contemporary Holocaust denial. It centers around an addictive telling of a famous court battle.
    • 5/5
      Interesting and necessary text describing a key moment in the fight for free speech.
    • 1/5
      I didn’t like it bc Lipstadt seemed extremely vain. It was more about her than the trial, her clout or bragging about her accomplishments, who she knew. (I found out the witnesses testifying on her behalf were paid around $250k-but thats neither here nor there, hard to belief it was a neutral testimony). She only provided a couple of evidence (of course points she won on) but what about the rest of the trial? Other than talking about herself a lot, trying to convince the audience to feel some empathy towards her & I wasn’t convinced, probably bc her words sounded like she was bragging a lot. Or maybe it was the lady reading in the audio version is why i didnt like it.
    • 5/5
      Great memoir of an important trial. Could perhaps have been a bit shorter.
    • 5/5
      Spellbinding and powerfully written book. Deborah Lipstadt is or was the head of Jewish Studies at Emory University in Atlanta. She had previously written Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. David Irving was a prominent "historian," Holocaust denier and anti-Semite mentioned in the book. David Irving proceeded to sue the author under the UK's libel laws, where the defendant bears the burden of proving that the writing was true, and the losing party pays the winner's attorneys' fees.

      To illustrate the depths of David Irving's evil he stated, with regard to the testimony of another witness,"I am not just going to annihilate evidence from Dr Roth, I am going to exterminate
      it when the times comes." That was particularly vile court testimony in a trial about the Holocaust. To illustrate the level of David Irving's credibility, he testified there were Zyklon B residues in what he testified was a morgue because the gas was present "because the room was used "for fumigating objects or cadavers."

      The book details both the excruciating effort for trial preparation, the lurid details of the trial and the aftermath of a glorious victory. It was a hard book to put down. One of the best books I've read.
    • 5/5
      IN 1993, Deborah Lipstadt publish a history of the Holoaust Denier Movement focusing on David Irving as the mosy dangerous of these deniers because of his standing as an eminent historian of WW II. Irving responded by threatening to sue her & her publisher, Penguin, for libel. Feeling that if they backed down, no one would be safe from this kind of intimidation therefore they decide to defend themselves in court.In the UK, the individual or organization accused of libeling someone must prove what they wrote or said was true and thus not libel. In America, it is the responsibility of the offended person to prove the action was libelous.Lipstadt had to raise one and a half million dollars to cover her legal expenses. The whole case took five years from start to finish. To prove that Irving had misused his sources to prove his preconceived theories about the Final Solution and the Holocaust, her legal brought in experts on the gas chambers, the ovens and the buildings the death camps. Other expert historians went through all of Irving's books looking for other lies and discrepancies of which in the end they found many. In the end the judge found Irving had lied in his works and was a racist and Holocaust denier.Interestingly, eminent historians such as Hugh Trevor-Roper and Sir John Keegan continued to support Irving even after the wheels started to fall of his wagon.
    • 4/5
      I read the book after watching the movie Denial wanting more details on the actual trial. While the movie is quite true to what actually happened, it condenses a lot. The book fills in what is left out. When I read a work on history I am trusting the author's sources are legit. David Irving's sources were definitely not. The style of writing was clunky at times, but worth a look for an in-depth look at this era of history.
    • 4/5
      Having seen the recent movie (Denial) I thought the book might be worth the read. The movie was good, but the full-length treatment that a book provides is always certain to be more satisfying. The titles of each are suitable for attracting the interest of viewers and readers, but overlook, I think, what is also on trial here: historians, historiography and freedom of speech.David Irving is a prolific writer of histories of Hitler and World War II, well-known for taking iconoclastic and revisionist views on Hitler's culpability for the massacre of the Jews in the "Final Solution" atrocities carried out by Germans. He also wrote a book on the bombing of Dresden by the allies that criticizes this as needless to the war effort and as a putative war crime because of the magnitude of casualties. Deborah Lipstadt is a professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University. She had been following the activities of Holocaust deniers and in her book "Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory" wrote that Irving deliberately falsified and misconstrued facts and data about the Holocaust to the point of claiming that whatever killings that occurred were not known to or sanctioned by Hitler and that the gas chambers of Auschwitz did not exist. She was concerned that, rather than being considered a crank, Irving had garnered considerable favorable attention in literary reviews and among some recognized historians.Irving sued Lipstadt and Penguin, her UK publisher, for defamation. Defamation suits in Britain, unlike in America, place the burden of proof on the person making the allegedly defamatory statement(s); in other words, the defendant must prove the truth of her words. (Under US law the plaintiff must prove that the words were untrue and in the case involving public figures that the utterance was recklessly made.) The defendants would be liable for punitive awards, court costs, apology and retraction and, importantly, ceasing any further publication of the offending words. Irving had brought such suits, or threats of suits, in the past and this had caused publishers to settle for fear of losing. In this case, Lipstadt and Penguin determined to contest the suit and employed a first-rate team of legal minds and historians to prove that Irving had intentionally distorted and manipulated facts in his histories. Moreover, that his motivation for so doing was his virulent antisemitism as demonstrated by his public utterances and close ties with extremist groups around the world. Through exhaustive review of sources and examination of Irving's writing and speeches, the defendants were able to prove conclusively that Irving went far beyond the pale of plausible interpretation of facts and willfully distorted evidence that did not support his preconceived conclusions. They showed also that Irving was a rabid and extreme antisemite who had made the most shocking and appalling statements about Jews and Holocaust survivors. Irving agreed with the defense to have the case heard before a judge and not a jury and had decided to represent himself. In his testimony and cross-examination of defense experts he was astoundingly inept, often contradicting himself from one day to the next. (Among the defense experts were Richard J. Evans, perhaps the world's most highly respected historian on 19th and 20th Germany, and Robert Jan Van Pelt whose research and knowledge of Auschwitz is unparalleled.)Lipstadt recounts the trial with the drama it deserves. It concludes with a smashing victory by the defense. Irving was completely discredited and his reputation put into shreds. He foolishly appealed the judge's 375-page decision only to see his standing as a scholar further diminished. This case garnered international attention and, given the risks to his reputation, it is puzzling why Irving wouldn't have found it wiser to ignore Lipstadt's criticisms. Such is the price to be paid for a large ego and delusions driven by self-regard.Here's why I think the movie and book are misnamed. Most people who have heard of the Holocaust "denials" understand it to be the work of crackpots and extremists. While we should worry about such fanatics as they tend toward violence, there is little chance that their views will ever garner credulity. But, Irving is different because his work had been fairly well-reviewed and moderately well-accepted by the academic community. Irving was perceived to be an iconoclast and revisionist whose research was thorough if his interpretations and conclusions were off base. This reception of Irving was, however, entirely unjustified and, disturbingly, no one looked closely at his treatment of his source material. When they finally did -- impelled by the court action he brought -- his falsifications, distortions and manipulations were patently clear. Why hadn't anyone done this before? One thinks of how outlandish it would be if scientists failed to check other scientists' data when evaluating their hypotheses and theories. Does not the academic world of historians bear the same obligation? Now, certainly, there is a place for revisionist interpretations in the study of history; we should actually be thankful for it. It is also appropriate to give wide latitude for divergent analysis and interpretation of the meaning of historical events, but this should not extend giving a pass to overt falsehoods, bias and purposeful manipulation of objective truth. The examination of Irving's use of his sources, when it finally occurred, revealed the most egregious dishonesty that was plain to see by anyone who bothered to look. In the aftermath of the trial, some historians criticized the dismantling of Irving's research by stating that any historian should fear such close scrutiny as the flaws in their work might certainly be detected; that's an astonishing statement that undermines our faith in scholarly integrity.Finally, there's the issue of freedom of speech. Some commentators said that the efforts to discredit Irving served to inhibit the freedom of speech that's the foundation of academic freedom. Such view is entirely wrong headed. It was Irving who, by his legal action, was inhibiting (Lipstadt's) free speech. Certainly, the prospect of being sued for one's speech puts a chill on it. Lipstadt at the outset thought it likely that Penguin would cave in; it was logically in the firm's self-interest to do so. Moreover, academic freedom does not extend to freedom to lie without fear of challenge; indeed it is the dialectical nature of scholarly discourse that does most to advance truth. Irving should not have received a "pass" from his peers and thankfully someone finally (and courageously) called him on this.
    • 2/5
      The content concerning the issues of the trial (Holocaust Denial) was interesting, and the process of evaluating evidence and sources was also informative and a good study in historiography. I did think Lipstadt veered into too many irrelevancies not connected with the case itself and this detracted from the rating. The descriptions of her frustrations and anxiety during the trial, though understandable, became tedious. They frequently disrupted the flow of reading in dealing with the central matters at hand. It is still an important work because the battle for history and its interpretations are never over and her book provides a valuable service in reminding us of that lesson.
    • 5/5
      Deborah Lipstadt's account of the trial forced upon her when sued for libel by David Irving is absolutely gripping. Several important points about the trial are made crystal clear, even to a general reader like myself with no historiacal training:1. The importance of the trial's outcome: Irving was trying to bully critics of his work into silence. Despite what his supporters allege, it was he, not Professor Lipstradt, who was trying to stifle free expression.2. David Irving is a charlatan, with no business calling himself a historian. His book, as it is explained in great detail, are riddled with deliberate factual errors designed to put Hitler in a good light and pretend the holocaust never happened. An interesting outcome of the defence team's research is proof that Irving's anti-semitism came long before his historical writings.3. Holocaust denial has no basis in historical fact, and is, in reality, just another form of anti-semitism.Lipstadt come across very well in the book, and is unfailingly polite and respectful to other academics, though the subsequent actions of two very eminent military historians in defending Irving after the trial verdict were disgraceful.I can assure one of this book's other Librarything reviewers that this average reader fully grasped the significance of the judges decision. Irving may continue to lecture, but the only people taking him seriously are his fellow neo nazis.
    • 5/5
      A fabulous book on multiple levels. Prof. Lipstadt gives insight into herself (as a modern, American Jewish woman), into the differences between the British and American legal systems, and, most importantly, into the twisted 'history' and leaps of logic that form the basis for those at the forefront of the Holocaust denial movement. The book is an emotional rollercoaster (as, I'm sure, the trial it recounts must have been for Prof. Lipstadt). For those with some knowledge of the Holocaust, reading as the arguments put forth by a denier are demolished is highly satisfying. I can only hope that those who question whether the Holocaust happened will take the time to read this important book.