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Denying History: Who Says Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It (S. Mark Taper Foundation Imprint in Jewish Studies)| Media: | Paperback | | Author: | Michael Shermer | | Publisher: | University of California Press | | Release date: | 01 April, 2002 | | Our price: | $17.95 |
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| Denying History: Who Says Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It (S. Mark Taper Foundation Imprint in Jewish Studies) |
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Average rating:  |
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Fascinating. |
The title of this book pretty much tells it all - it is an academic exploration into the people who deny the Holocaust ever happened and their motivations for making this claim.
Of course, you may be wondering why someone would make a claim like this, despite the film footage of newly-liberated camps, eyewitness testimony from both victims and perpetrators, the population records that show that, indeed, some 6 million Jews did not survive World War II and damning circumstantial evidence from Hitler and members of his inner circle that alludes to a "Final Solution" to the "Jewish problem".
Well, the deniers are a motley lot, some are educated and wel-spoken and others are not. Some feel that Germany has become a martyred nation to the cause of eradicating racism. Others are pro-fascist in politics and want to get rid of the taint that Nazi-ism gives to fascism, so they try to exonerate the Nazis.
Others are just plain anti-semites and sincerely believe the Jews somehow "cooked up" the population figures or even somehow managed to conspire to kill off 6 milion of their own people in order to create sympathy for the creation of a Jewish country, namely, modern-day Israel.
It was a fascinating book, a little deep at the beginning and the end with the different theories on how to approach history, but the middle was quite informative. I give this book a B+.
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| Denying History: Who Says Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It (S. Mark Taper Foundation Imprint in Jewish Studies) - Michael Shermer |
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A good introduction |
| This book as an investigation of the phenomenon of denial is well-researched and interesting. In terms of its refutation of denial, it would probably make a decent introdution. The chapter on basic epistemology in history likely indicats that the authors were aiming at non-specialist/historian audience. Although for the specialist, there are more sophisticated books and articles out there, so in that sense, the arguments might seem somewhat simplistic (which is why I would give it 4 sintead of 5). I think one of the possible reasons this book was written was to make clear that the 'skeptic' mindset does not lend itself to skepticism about anything and everything, putting distance between skeptics of, for example, religious claims, and skeptics about the holocaust. I might also add that anything by Michael Shermer would definitely be recommended. |
| Michael Shermer - Denying History: Who Says Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It (S. Mark Taper Foundation Imprint in Jewish Studies) |
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Reader from the Bronx needs Help!!! |
This is an excellent book in not only the topic it deals with but the scholarship it reveals in showing how to do your own fact finding of historical events.
But hey...reader from the Bronx, get a grip. You need help. If you really believe half the "crap" you wrote then you either did not read this book and you're repeating some pet propaganda pitch, or you lack the ability to comprehend what you read so that your comments are a "masterpiece" of stupidity. There is help, namely get an education beyond the eighth grade and travel outside of the Bronx. You need to expand your intellect before you open your mouth. You know "the mind is a terrible thing to waste" that is if you ever had a mind to begin with. Also the others who find your review helpful, you too need help like this reviewer. |
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