A good introduction to what is an odd ball subject. - Rated 
You would think that in this day and age that a well documented and demonstrated act of genocide such as "The Final Solution" would be beyond doubt - you would be wrong.
There exists a group of "scholars" and "experts" ( many self appointed ) who would have us believe that the "Holocaust" is far from a proven chapter in history and that in fact "it never happened".
This book introduces you to who these folks are and why they say what they say and believe in what they are saying.
Is it an eye opener - yes it is - was I impressed by their arguments - not in the least.
This book documents a series of are basically lies and distortions imparted by "experts" who insist that they have a case to make , the authors look at who says what , their background , their expertise (or otherwise) and how what they have said has been received by way of impact.
The authors point to the interesting fact that this so called " revisionist" approach has been instrumental in having historians verify that the genocide did take place and to review the process by which it took place and the decision making process which governed the direction of the SS / NSDAP.
The various legal wrangles which have come from this bizarre and ridiculous approach to the subject is explored and one quickly learns that revisionists are no strangers to set back and defeat - they simply see this as being proof of the nature of the conspiracy which they are upagainst.
The events of this book have since been overtaken by the Libel action of David Irving which he comprehensively lost and the major pieces of evidence presented at that tiem.
See "Telling Lies About Hitler, "The Case For Auschwitz" and "The Unwritten Order".
Look into my eyes and dare say that it never happened - Rated 
How can anyone possibly deny that the Holocaust happened? An equally important question is WHY would anyone want to deny the Holocaust? Don't we have thousands of eyewitness testimonies all detailing what happened in the Holocaust? Don't we have photographic evidence? Aren't some of the camps still there? Well, the Holocaust deniers' state that gas chambers were never used to gas people, they also argue that the number of Jews killed was closer to 600,000 rather than 6,000,000 and that the Nazis had no plan to systematically exterminate the Jews. This is a very dangerous argument and once which Arthur Hertzberg calls the most hurtful attack ever levelled against the Jews. Perhaps this argument would not be as worrying if it was only the view of a few neo Nazis, but it is not. Holocaust denial is growing in frequency; for example, about 10% of those in Italy are deniers with similar surprising numbers across the world. Shermer and Grobner have therefore written this brilliant book in order to prove how we know that the Holocaust happened and to counter these atrocious claims.
They argue early in their book that it is no longer possible to simply dismiss the deniers arguments as coming from neo Nazi thugs, rather we have a duty to respond to these malicious claims in order to tell the world that this event did happen, that 6,000,000 were murdered in the gas chambers and various other methods, and that the Nazis did indeed have a plan to systematically exterminate the Jews.
Shermer and Grobner begin by discussing how we know anything actually happened in history - through the convergence of evidence all leading to the same conclusion. They then take an in depth look into who says the Holocaust never happened and why they say it. From here they analyse how the deniers distort history, and how these so-called "revisionists" are actually practising a form of pseudohistory rather than true history based on the principles of scientific investigation. Part III of the book takes each of the three arguments of the deniers and proceeds to totally refute them by presenting evidence from a variety of sources. They use eyewitness accounts from survivors, Sonderkommandos and former SS guards, camp commandants and even the local people who lived near the camps. They use photographic evidence, which includes aerial photos of Auschwitz as well as photos taken secretly inside the camps during the war. As well as this, they use written orders and population demographics to prove how we know the Holocaust happened. They convincingly explain how all of this evidence leads to one horrific conclusion: the systematic slaughter of 6,000,000 Jews.
In summary, Shermer and Grobner explain how Holocaust denial is just that: dogmatic denial rather than true historical revision. They address all of the key points thoroughly and logically leaving the reader with a clear understanding of the fallacies of the deniers' arguments, and with a confidence that the Holocaust happened as we understand it to have done. This is an absolutely essential book for anyone with any sort of interest in the Holocaust, for those who want to know how to refute the deniers' claims and for those who are beginning to wonder whether the Holocaust happened at all.
Confronting the issues more effective than refusing debate - Rated
As an amateur historian I have always been a bit concerned at the refusal to debate holocaust deniers or indeed to allow them public airing of their views. Apart from the freedom of speech implications, there's always been a nagging concern along the lines of "if it really happened why wouldn't they take the deniers head on". I should add this concern is despite a recognition that debating inevitably lends crackpots credibility and a personal conclusion that the historical evidence can lead to no other conclusion than that the nazis murdered millions of jews, gypsies and others through shooting, gassing and overwork. And I also wonder can the various "facts" put forward by the deniers (I use Shermer's term here for reasons he pretty conclusively defends in the book for those who question the essential elements of the holocaust) be supported and if so do they support the denier's claims? For instance, is the extermination camp at Auschwitz a post war reconstruction, did the Nazis make soap from camp victims, are there cyanide traces in the camps and do these invalidate the holocaust? Shermer's answers are respectively: yes, no, no and definitely not. Shermer conclusively shows that the overwhleming weight of historical evidence leads to the conclusion that the holocaust happened as we understand it to have done. He also shows that the deniers are mostly not practising history, have some fairly questionable motivations and their focus on minor elements above is at the expense of any historical consideration of the holocaust. This book deserves to be widely read and does much more to advance the truth about the holocaust than the more usual alternative of trying to prevent the deniers from being heard and refusing to debate them.
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