Source of Denial

With all due respect to Andrew Sullivan, he’s really off
base when he talks about "historian" and obvious Holocaust denier David Irving’s "first-rate mind." Having read the book by the historian Richard Evans,
Lying About Hitler, it’s clear that Irving was way out of his intellectual depth during the trial. (Irving had sued Professor Deborah Lipstadt for libel after she identified Irving as a Holocaust denier). In fact, the degree to which Irving is bitch-slapped around the courtroom due to his inability to construct an intellectually coherent defense regarding his books, research, etc. is almost painful to read. Well, maybe not all that painful. Lying About Hitler, although very dry in spots, turns into the feel-good book of the year in its last third. David Irving does such an execrable job of defending himself that the entire "field" of Holocaust denial implodes along with his reputation. And this in front of a worldwide audience. And that makes for the most potent argument against laws that prohibit Holocaust denial or other types of hateful speech: they rob the proponents of these views of the public forums they need to put bullets into their feet. Irving exited the Lipstadt trial as a crumbling wreck; his prison sentence may make him a martyr. Listen to Lipstadt
herself.