Synopsis
The question developed from an interest in the Holocaust denier David Irving and his libel suit against Deborah Lipstadt. A source I had encountered in my reading about the Lipstadt-Irving case was Irving’s personal website which contained much of his own opinion regarding a wide variety of historical issues. The reliability of this blog was questionable, and seemed an interesting historical discussion. How did Irving, now discredited, use the internet to express his historical opinion, and what means did he use to do so?
The introduction of my essay provides an overview of theory regarding historical publication online, information I drew from historians such as Roy Rozenwig and Jerome de Groot, as it informs much of my further discussion. Irving too must be introduced as an historian, best done so through a brief discussion of Irving’s early work and the trial which he brought against Lipstadt. The synthesis of these ideas, the publication of history online and Irving as an historian, constitutes the rest of my essay. This is done through the analysis of two main sources. The historical method of a blog entry regarding Auschwitz and another regarding the death toll at Dresden, are evaluated. The conclusion evaluates Irving’s use of the internet for historical publication, especially his dangerous imitation of professional history and the effect this has on subgenres of historical belief.
The academic content is drawn from Evans and Lipstadt’s books, as well as essays from Rozenwig’s The Centre for History and New Media. The content which I used for close analysis of Irving’s website, Auschwitz and Dresden, was chosen as these are the two issues about which he is most outspoken and for which has received most criticism. Professional history regarding these two areas is also readily available and so inconsistencies in Irving’s work could be easily detected. I chose to focus on Irving’s work regarding historical issues, rather than analyse any of the modern social commentary he also provides on his website.
Irving is introduced as an historian by a brief discussion of his early work and the trial which resulted from the libel case he brought against Lipstadt.
ReplyDeleteThe rest is good.
looks good :)
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