Postmodernism and Holocaust Denial (Postmodern Encounters) Book

Deborah Lipstadt, an American academic, branded the Holocaust denier David Irving as a ?Hitler partisan wearing blinkers?. He then sued her in a high-profile case and lost, the judge stating that Irving ?persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence? and was ?anti-Semitic and racist?. This book explains and explores the contentious issues at stake in the Irving trial. Some historians believe, as Lipstadt claimed, that postmodern ideas lead to phenomena such as Holocaust denial. Others maintain that the ?relativism? of postmodernist history ?demeans the dead?. Is either of these claims true? Or have critics of postmodernism profoundly misunderstood its case? 'Postmodernism and Holocaust Denial' argues that the questions postmodernism asks of history and historians are in fact strong weapons in combating Holocaust denial. Clearly and without jargon, Robert Eaglestone probes the questions: What is history? And how does history establish its claims to objectivity and impartiality? These are questions which not only expose Irving as no historian, but also vindicate the postmodern response to Holocaust denial.Read More