In recognition of Banned Books Week 2007, Lamson Library is featuring a series of books that challenge our beliefs and test our commitment to free speech.

David Irving has been called the most controversial historian in the 20th Century. While his books Hitler’s War and The War Path: Hitler’s Germany 1933-1939 demonstrated an extraordinary amount of research and documentation, some reader reviews reflect an uneasiness with the material. His softer approach to Adolf Hitler’s personae, the lack of discussion on atrocities committed against the Jews, and his claim that Hitler knew nothing about “The Final Solution,” severely tarnished his reputation and credibility as a historian and writer.

Deborah Lipstadt, Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University, referred to Irving publicly as an outright Holocaust denier. Irving, in turn, sued Lipstadt and her publisher for libel. Her narrative History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving, tells her side of the case and was for some readers, a compelling, judicial thriller.

Read another book on the trial by Lipstadt’s chief defense council, Richard Evans, entitled Lying about the Holocaust: Hitler, History and the David Irving Trial.

History on trial, war path, Hitler’s war, David Irving, Deborah Lipstadt, bbw2007, Holocaust, Holocaust denial