Now a major motion picture starring Rachel Weisz, Timothy Spall and
Tom Wilkinson.
"A compelling book: memoir and courtroom drama, a work of historical
and legal import. " -- Jewish Week
Deborah Lipstadt, author of the groundbreaking Denying the
Holocaust, chronicles her six-year legal battle with controversial
British World War II historian David Irving that culminated in a
sensational 2000 trial in London
In her acclaimed 1993 book Denying the Holocaust, Deborah Lipstadt
called putative World War II historian David Irving "one of the most
dangerous spokespersons for Holocaust denial", a conclusion that she
reached by examining his cunning manipulations of evidence, partisanship
to Hitler, persistent exoneration of the Third Reich, and his confirmed
celebrity among swelling ranks of anti-Semitic organizations
internationally. In 1994, Irving filed a libel lawsuit, not in the U.S.
courtroom--where the onus of proof lies on the plaintiff, but in the
UK--where the onus of proof lies on the defendant. At stake were not
only the reputations of two historians, but the record of history
itself.
The four-month trial took place in London in 2000 and drew international
attention. With the help of a first-rate team of solicitors and
historians and the support of her UK publisher, Penguin, Lipstadt won,
her victory proclaimed on the front page of major newspapers around the
world. Part history, part real life courtroom drama, Denial is
Lipstadt's riveting, blow-by-blow account of the trial that tested the
standards of historical and judicial truths and resulted in a formal
denunciation of the infamous Holocaust denier.
Originally published as History on Trial.
