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amris's review against another edition
challenging
informative
tense
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism
bethalow's review against another edition
4.0
This book was fascinating and so disturbing. I appreciate the authors honesty and integrity in standing firm and fighting for the rights of those who had no voice. To consider that the Holocaust never occurred is a disgusting disgrace of humanity. Thank you for turning these trials into a book to help educate the masses on such an important topic.
mes91's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This was a fascinating read, I had wanted to get to this for a long time. I'd seen the film which is excellent and I find the topic so interesting.
Deborah Lipstadt tells her story so well, it is full of in depth information from the trial and gives a very clear explanation of the facts being exploited.
I couldn't believe some of what I was reading in this book. How someone could have these beliefs and do and say what they did is shocking and I found myself shaking my head in disbelief so many times.
I'm so glad this had the favourable outcome it did, justice this time did prevail.
Deborah Lipstadt tells her story so well, it is full of in depth information from the trial and gives a very clear explanation of the facts being exploited.
I couldn't believe some of what I was reading in this book. How someone could have these beliefs and do and say what they did is shocking and I found myself shaking my head in disbelief so many times.
I'm so glad this had the favourable outcome it did, justice this time did prevail.
siggy89's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Having seen the film numerous times I was eager to read (listen) to the book on which it was based. I was too young at the time to remember the trial but found the narration captivating as it sets the scene and details the legal preparations and court case. It is very emotive in parts and really makes you wonder what went through Irving’s head - if anything even did, to make him deny such atrocities and twist fact to fiction.
If you’re intrigued in history, or true stories, human rights, decency, etc. then you have to read this.
If you’re intrigued in history, or true stories, human rights, decency, etc. then you have to read this.
geoffwood's review against another edition
4.0
Maybe lose the afterword by the alleged murderer-pedophile but otherwise good book.
timelordmom's review against another edition
2.0
It was alright...the anti-islam comments tossed in occasionally were out of place and uncalled for. Especially when you consider this was about a white guy. Bigotry isn't okay against anyway coming from anyone.
agapsch's review against another edition
4.0
David Irving is the Donald Trump of the early 2000s
Deborah Lipstadt’s memoir Holocaust on Trial details her court case with David Irving, who sued her for libel because she referred to him as a Holocaust denier in her earlier book. Due to the fact that Irving sued her in Britain, her team essentially had to prove to the judge that Irving was a sloppy and inaccurate historian, and Lipstadt’s portrayal of him in her book was true. A common misconception of this trial is that the defense had to prove the Holocaust happened. Irving acknowledge the occurrence of the Holocaust to some extent, so the defense actually had to prove people (Irving in particular) will distort evidence and call it History, in an attempt to evoke a certain narrative.
Irving is a standard Holocaust denier and Hitler apologist. Throughout his career, he consistently falsified evidence (by mistranslating or other means) to promote the agenda of making the Holocaust appear to be a ploy by ‘Greedy Jews’. Irving was revealed to be incredibly racist during the trial (one example being the nursery rhyme he sang to his young child, about how she should not participate in miscegenation). For these reasons, it was incredibly frustrating to read parts of Irving’s testimony. He said some very racist things, including hurtful words to actual survivors of the Holocaust.
I found really moving how many people wanted to participate in this trial. Lipstadt wrote about several friends, colleges, and even complete strangers who offered their help in some way. Everyone really saw it as a way to continue the fight against the Holocaust and Antisemitism. Because so many neo-fascists now see it as vogue to deny the Holocaust, it is incredibly important to keep up public knowledge of it, and to call out those that will use it for their neo-Nazi agenda.
This was second of the books about the Holocaust that I read on vacation (the first being Lilac Girls), and I certainly preferred it much more than Lilac Girls. I read parts of this memoir in my Holocaust discussion class this past semester, and I wanted to know the entire story. While it is not a standard vacation read (and it is a bit dry at parts), it is overall very readable and a great story on publicly confronting those that deny the Holocaust.
Deborah Lipstadt’s memoir Holocaust on Trial details her court case with David Irving, who sued her for libel because she referred to him as a Holocaust denier in her earlier book. Due to the fact that Irving sued her in Britain, her team essentially had to prove to the judge that Irving was a sloppy and inaccurate historian, and Lipstadt’s portrayal of him in her book was true. A common misconception of this trial is that the defense had to prove the Holocaust happened. Irving acknowledge the occurrence of the Holocaust to some extent, so the defense actually had to prove people (Irving in particular) will distort evidence and call it History, in an attempt to evoke a certain narrative.
Irving is a standard Holocaust denier and Hitler apologist. Throughout his career, he consistently falsified evidence (by mistranslating or other means) to promote the agenda of making the Holocaust appear to be a ploy by ‘Greedy Jews’. Irving was revealed to be incredibly racist during the trial (one example being the nursery rhyme he sang to his young child, about how she should not participate in miscegenation). For these reasons, it was incredibly frustrating to read parts of Irving’s testimony. He said some very racist things, including hurtful words to actual survivors of the Holocaust.
I found really moving how many people wanted to participate in this trial. Lipstadt wrote about several friends, colleges, and even complete strangers who offered their help in some way. Everyone really saw it as a way to continue the fight against the Holocaust and Antisemitism. Because so many neo-fascists now see it as vogue to deny the Holocaust, it is incredibly important to keep up public knowledge of it, and to call out those that will use it for their neo-Nazi agenda.
This was second of the books about the Holocaust that I read on vacation (the first being Lilac Girls), and I certainly preferred it much more than Lilac Girls. I read parts of this memoir in my Holocaust discussion class this past semester, and I wanted to know the entire story. While it is not a standard vacation read (and it is a bit dry at parts), it is overall very readable and a great story on publicly confronting those that deny the Holocaust.
j45rpm's review against another edition
5.0
I’d say it’s the lawyer in me, but my artist/art history-professor Dad couldn’t put down Deborah Lipstadt’s book “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier” either.
Lipstadt, a renowned Jewish studies professor at Emery University was sued for libel by British author and holocaust denier David Irving, who alleged that Lipstadt calling him a denier in one of her books was untrue and defamatory.
The British legal system is very different than ours when it comes to defamation. Unlike the United States, where the burden of proof is on the plaintiff to demonstrate that words were libelous, in Britain, the burden is on the defendant to prove that his or her words were true.
This book is one part legal thriller, one part history, and one part autobiographical. It describes how Lipstadt dealt with the pressures to consider a settlement, the need to find money for a defense fund, the difficulty of a historian of her stature being unable to speak to these issues herself and having to let herself be defended through counsel and witnesses, and the painfulness but importance of being part of a trial to prove that the holocaust occurred.
Some other reviews on Goodreads accuse Lipstadt of being biased, a complaint I find absurd. Of course she is biased-this is HER story. It's autobiographical, and like all autobiographies, it does not, and cannot, pretend to be objective or attempt to tell all sides of the story. This is Lipstadt's perspective about what happened to her.
The book manages to be suspenseful, even for those who know the verdict. I highly recommend it.
Lipstadt, a renowned Jewish studies professor at Emery University was sued for libel by British author and holocaust denier David Irving, who alleged that Lipstadt calling him a denier in one of her books was untrue and defamatory.
The British legal system is very different than ours when it comes to defamation. Unlike the United States, where the burden of proof is on the plaintiff to demonstrate that words were libelous, in Britain, the burden is on the defendant to prove that his or her words were true.
This book is one part legal thriller, one part history, and one part autobiographical. It describes how Lipstadt dealt with the pressures to consider a settlement, the need to find money for a defense fund, the difficulty of a historian of her stature being unable to speak to these issues herself and having to let herself be defended through counsel and witnesses, and the painfulness but importance of being part of a trial to prove that the holocaust occurred.
Some other reviews on Goodreads accuse Lipstadt of being biased, a complaint I find absurd. Of course she is biased-this is HER story. It's autobiographical, and like all autobiographies, it does not, and cannot, pretend to be objective or attempt to tell all sides of the story. This is Lipstadt's perspective about what happened to her.
The book manages to be suspenseful, even for those who know the verdict. I highly recommend it.