"Holocaust Denier" Finger-Pointing Obssession

[MalignD at aol.com]

It is worth noting that the source material of this discussion around Irving, 
including the Hitchens's article I quoted, neither frames nor is drawn from a 
general discussion around history and historiography; the material has a very 
specific context:  they are reviews of books--one by Richard Evans, one by 
D.D. Guttenplan--about a libel case, brought (and lost) by Irving against an 
American writer and, I believe, Penguin.  The books and the articles touch as 
well on issues of censorship and publisher cowardice in regard to a biography 
of Goebbels by Irving that St. Martin's refused to publish for reasons that 
may have had more to do with his reputation than with the content of the 
book. 

All this is further complicated by the fact that Evans (whom DeLong refers 
to) testified on behalf of the defense in that case and complicated even 
further by some disparaging remarks Evans made about the Guttenplan book.

In short, the clipped and pasted cites shouldn't be taken to be samples from 
dispassionate commentary on history and historians.